SOUTHEND fire station – just minutes away from Cecil Jones Academy - has specialist equipment to fight blazes from above...but it could not be used because there were no firefighters to man it.

Instead, the aerial ladder platform – the same as the one at Southend – had to be scrambled from Chelmsford 20 miles away from the fire.

Southend fire station is located in Sutton Road, just a couple of minutes’ drive from Tuesday’s major blaze.

Unions believe the platform could not be used because of staffing cuts.

Riccardo la Torre, regional secretary for the eastern region of the Fire Brigades’ Union, said they had tried their best to fight the cuts as such a piece of equipment is vital for large fires and minimalises the effects as much as possible.

He said: “It’s because of the cuts they couldn’t use it. The aerial ladder platform gets really high and is for fires at a height.

“Traditionally they are based at areas with high risk with a dedicated crew on them, there would be an extra crew for the Aerial Ladder Platform.

“To make cuts they said you can either have crews for the fire engine or the platform.

“They haven’t left us with enough firefighters to crew both. On Tuesday there wasn’t enough to take the fire engine and the platform so they had to call the nearest station with one and that is Chelmsford.”

When asked why the platform is still based in Southend after now having enough crews, Mr la Torre said it will be used when there is a major incident in another part of Essex.

He continued: “It will never actually be used in Southend because there are not enough firefighters to use it.

“If the Southend fire engine is needed, which it inevitable will in a fire, the platform can’t be used because there are not enough crew left.

“Chelmsford are the same, so Southend would have to take the platform to Chelmsford in such an incident, or to Maldon as they don’t have one - they are only in areas where the risk is high.

“When you get fires that require it, it is going to be delayed. We fought these cuts but unfortunately we were unsuccessful, it was in 2012 when they wanted to take away dedicated crews. It’s worrying times.”

When asked about Tuesday’s incident and why the platform nearby was not used, a spokesperson for Essex Fire and Rescue said: “Southend firefighters were part of our initial response to the incident at Cecil Jones Academy. “They, along with other Essex firefighters worked extremely hard and in difficult conditions to limit the spread of the fire and to restrict, as far as possible, the damage caused to the Academy.

“To aid operations, the incident commander requested the attendance of an Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) and it an ALP was mobilised in line with the service’s strategic mobilising.”