Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) are proposing to reduce its number of Fire Stations by 16% by closing 8 On-call fire stations:

• • • Bradford on Avon
    • Charmouth
    • Cranborne
    • Hamworthy
    • Maiden Newton
    • Mere
    • Ramsbury
    • Wilton

The DWFRS Resourcing and Savings Programme (RSP) has made this proposal in consultation with a working group of Fire Authority Members. The Fire Authority will consider the proposal and confirm which station closures will progress to public consultation on the 10^th of February.

The Fire and Rescue Service Association (FRSA) is opposed to the closure of fire stations and the loss of firefighter jobs. These measures will put lives, properties and the environment at greater risk. CFO Andy Cole said, “This is about using public money responsibly”.  In our opinion, losing fire stations and removing front line staff and appliances is not responsible. It will put lives at risk. We urge DWFRS and the Fire Authority to fully consider all options available, including alternative models to meet the needs of local communities.

FRSA local rep in DWFRS, Andy Elliott, is also the Station Commander at Maiden Newton, one of the stations under threat of closure. Andy says:

“I have been proudly serving my community since 1983 and have given more than 40 years of dedicated service. I know how important it is to have fire stations based in the rural communities. I have attended many incidents where minutes have made the difference in saving lives or homes. To close rural fire stations will put communities like Maiden Newton at risk. I believe that this is unacceptable and I think that our communities need to tell the Fire Authority and Government that this is unacceptable.”

At the heart of the problem is the failure of Central Government to adequately fund fire and rescue services, particularly those serving rural communities. It is a legal duty for a fire and rescue service to extinguish fires, protecting life and property and to rescue people from road traffic collisions amongst other things. Yet, the Government fails to provide adequate financial resources to facilitate this. As a direct result, fire and rescue services are forced to make difficult decisions about which communities they can afford to protect. CFO Andy Cole said during his Service Briefing; “These decisions are not being made because we want to, it’s because of the position that the Service has been put in”.

None the less, DWFRS proudly claims in its Community Safety Plan that:

“We will achieve a 10-minute response time on average for the first appliance in attendance at confirmed fires in sleeping risk premises, and 13 minutes on average for the second fire engine. For other buildings, our standard is 10 minutes on average for the first fire engine and 15 minutes on average for the second.”

and

“We will achieve a 15-minute response time on average, for the first appliance in attendance at confirmed road traffic collisions.”

How will DWFRS achieve this in the rural communities served by these Fire Stations facing closure? According to Official Government statistics [FIRE1001] DWFRS is already failing to meet this response standard by nearly a minute. It is failing to meet its own commitment to the communities that it serves with 50 Stations and this can only get worse if this number drops to 42.

The FRSA is committed to working with DWFRS and the Fire Authority to find viable alternatives but, without additional funding from Government, this will be a challenge. We encourage our members and the public to engage with the consultation process. If you fail to speak up now, it will be too late!

SOS – Save our Stations

END OF STATEMENT