Justice for Firefighters Geoff and Brian !

As we salute those firefighters who battled to save our Pier, it's time for justice for the families of late East Sussex firefighters Geoff Wicker and Brian Wembridge, who lost their lives battling another tragic fire in 2006. Despite a ruling of negligence against the fire service, their families are still awaiting the compensation ordered.

In 2006 Geoff and Brian lost their lives tackling a fire at Marlie Farm. After investigation, this was found to be down to negligence on the part of the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. Despite a court ruling that compensation must be paid, the fire service is refusing and stopping the bereaved families recovering from this traumatic event.

The High Court identified a number of failings by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service:

• Failure to train staff on the risks of a significant explosion with fireworks stored in bulk and the correct manner in which to approach explosives incidents.
• Failure to pre-plan (ie carry out standard inspections and build their findings into an emergency response plan) for an explosives incident at Marlie Farm, despite warnings about the site, the evidence of poor water supplies and ESFRS’ knowledge of the widespread, bulk storage of fireworks in Sussex.
• Failure by the fire and rescue service’s Mobilisation and Communications Centre to pass on information received in calls they received, for example, that a “huge explosion” or “large explosions” had taken place.
• Failure to order an evacuation once the presence of large fireworks in the shipping container was strongly suspected.
• Failure to execute the evacuation properly once it was belatedly ordered.

After a string of rulings and appeals, a high court judgement ruled that East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service must pay compensation to the bereaved families. They are refusing to drop the appeal against liability and are yet to pay any compensation.  Until they do their families simply cannot move on.

We want justice for Geoff, Brian and their families. We want East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service to honour the ruling of the court and accept their responsibility and liability for compensation.

Please click here to sign the petition

The Fire Authority is comprised of elected councillors from the City of Brighton and Hove, and from East Sussex County Council.  There are members of all parties (Tory, Lib Dem, Labour, Green, UKIP and Independents) on the authority.  You can find out who your local members are by clicking here.