Northamptonshire interim fire chief appointee criticised by union

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has criticised the appointment of Northamptonshire's new fire chief, saying she has "no operational understanding of the role".

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue announced on Friday that Nicci Marzec would be taking over as interim boss.

Her appointment comes after previous incumbent Mark Jones resigned to concentrate on recovering from injury.

The union called the decision "highly unusual".

The appointment was made by the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) Stephen Mold for whom Ms Marzec previously worked as monitoring officer and head of paid staff.

Adam Taylor, from the FBU, said: "This is highly unusual, as [she] has never worked in the fire sector."

He claimed the new interim chief had "no operational understanding of the role which is required to keep the communities of Northamptonshire safe".

"The Fire Service is a complex operation and firefighting is a highly skilled, technical profession," he said.

"Recruiting externally for senior operational roles means that the most senior decision-maker will have no practical experience of using equipment, responding to incidents or keeping firefighters and the public safe in fires, floods and other callouts."

The union said the appointment was "further evidence of the unsuitability of the PFCC governance arrangement in the fire service".

The FBU said it would be consulting with members on the appointment.

Mr Mold said Ms Marzec would be supported by the incoming deputy chief fire officer as well as two other assistant chief fire officers

His office has been asked to respond to the union criticism.

In a statement released on Friday, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said Ms Marzec had "extensive senior management experience at strategic and operational levels across a range of professional fields".

It said she had previously held a range of senior management roles in local authorities, with experience of leading and managing organisations and change programmes.

She had also lead the Community Safety Partnership in Northampton for many years, "setting up and managing a partnership hub and working with emergency service colleagues on a range of targeted and preventative activities to improve community safety," the fire service said.

Ms Marzec said on Friday: "I'm looking forward to working with the chief fire officer team and with our partners to find new ways to make our fire service fit for the future, to extend collaboration and joint working and to support the changes to our culture that we need to make."

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