New North Yorkshire fire chief has difficult task ahead as service battles with staffing shortages and ageing appliances - The Yorkshire Post says

Jonathan Dyson has been appointed into the role just months after it emerged the cash-strapped emergency service was battling with staffing shortages, crumbling buildings and out of date vehicles and would need to borrow the majority of the £31million it needs over the next five years to maintain and update its facilities and equipment.

Given the service is also “forecasting an annual £1m budget deficit for the next four years which is not sustainable”, according to a report from the office of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, it’s a deeply worrying picture and one that suggests the service has reached a crisis point.

Mr Dyson has pledged to lead major changes. Although he was the only applicant for the job - perhaps not surprising given the service’s difficult position, it is to be hoped his background as firefighter in the South Yorkshire brigade and as area manager in North Yorkshire will mean he has a firm understanding of all ranks of the fire service structure and the challenges faced at each level. That in turn should stand him in good stead to face what lies ahead.

Mr Dyson has suggested that the organisation’s aged estate and ageing appliances do little for attracting people to join the service - clearly not good news for tackling those staffing shortages.

But perhaps most concerning, and especially so for a service for 824,000 people, and one spanning such a large area, is what such aged equipment could mean for crews called out to emergencies. Public safety, of course, must come first.