West Midlands Fire Service ‘heartbroken’ after sixth colleague dies as chief denies ‘scandal’ claim

The West Midlands fire service has been rocked by six deaths in less than three months, on top of the tragic loss of its former chief officer earlier this year, chief officer Oliver Lee revealed today.

In the latest tragedy, recently retired fire service instructor Ian Revell was found dead at Oldbury fire station overnight on Monday morning (July 15). He is the sixth colleague from the fire service ‘family’ to lose his life in ten weeks, WMFS chief executive Mr Lee said.

He spoke candidly about the number of tragedies within the service during an extraordinary press conference earlier today, where he addressed a number of headline-grabbing issues and hit back at claims the service is “ridden with scandals”.

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“I have been in the role for almost exactly four months and in that time we have been beset by considerable sadness and tragedy, most notably yesterday with the tragic death of Ian Revell at our Oldbury fire station. There have been five other deaths in the last ten weeks (three current employees, two retired employees and the spouse of a colleague, three of them from natural causes).

“It is very difficult for an organisation like this to deal with this, one that values ​​others above itself and values ​​duty above financial reward,” he said. “The organisation has suffered but it has also been relentless in pursuing what it does every day.” The circumstances of Mr Revell’s death will be subject to a future inquest. No further details about his family’s circumstances have been released.

But at the briefing, called by Mr Lee, he revealed that devastated staff had learned of the latest tragedy early yesterday and a staff-wide briefing was quickly organised. He revealed that he had asked all colleagues to use any support services available in the service as they came to terms with the loss of another colleague, but also said he had told them to support each other. “Go to the pub, go for a run, swim or walk, but don’t go alone. Put your arms around each other as I’m trying to put my arms around the whole organisation.”

Mr Lee took the highly unusual step of calling a press conference in light of newspaper reports linking the death to other recent incidents under investigation to describe the service as “scandal-ridden”. “I do not accept that it is scandal-ridden, and it will not be during my tenure here,” he said in response to The Sun’s article.

The service has been in the headlines since the death of former fire chief Wayne Brown, who took his own life earlier this year. He was under investigation at the time over allegations he had lied about having an MBA degree.

Further allegations later emerged about a second senior officer seconded to the service because of his qualifications. Separately, a man is facing trial over a harassment allegation relating to Mr Brown.

Mr Lee said the difficult circumstances had left the service “hurt” but that it was “absolutely not” ridden with scandals.

He said: “In the four months (since I took over) we have responded to 7,000 emergency calls, and 1,000 of those involved people needing immediate first aid. Each of those calls was responded to in less than five minutes. We have also carried out 4,000 safe and well visits, which has enabled vulnerable people to live more safely.

“This organisation is a responsible, uniformed public and emergency service, paid for with public money, and every day it does the best it can to protect the people of the West Midlands. I made it clear when I took over that I would lead it fully and transparently, and that there would be no hiding anything under the table. I have been true to my word.

“I have a job to do on behalf of the 1,900 people[who work for the fire service]and the fire authority who have placed their trust in me to do that job, and that is to take this organisation forward into the future so that it serves the communities of the West Midlands better and delivers an ever higher level of operational performance and delivery.”

Mr Lee took over as chief executive in May. A former Royal Marine colonel, he had a decorated career serving on the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was in command of operations when 12 of his men were killed flying into Iraq during the second Gulf War; he later left the army “on a matter of principle” over the prosecution of Marine A in Afghanistan.

He took over a service rocked by Mr Brown’s death. During the briefing, Mr Lee confirmed it was “correct” that Mr Brown did not have an MBA qualification and was being investigated when he died. “Whether he lied outright about that or whether it was an oversight in terms of how he was running his own affairs, I will never know.

“There is a very serious inquest being conducted by the coroner into my predecessor’s death and (the service) is fully supporting that. I attended the pre-inquest hearing a month or so ago and will attend the next one in September and the full inquest in March,” he added.

“But beyond that, investigations into the past are none of my business. My business is to lead this organisation into the future. The 1,900 people who work in it need that leadership from me, a duty I take immensely seriously, and the three million people in the West Midlands deserve this organisation to be as fast and efficient as possible.”