Retained firefighters face yet another battle to keep their jobs, this time in West Sussex, as senior managers launch a consultation process that proposes to remove appliances crewed by RDS staff both at Worthing and Crawley Fire Stations.

You will remember back in 2010 the same Fire & Rescue Service undertook a consultation process (entitled Fire Redesign) which saw three RDS fire stations close whilst at the same time amend crewing arrangements at two other RDS stations (Littlehampton and Burgess Hill) to incorporate Wholetime staff, which has caused the costs of the aforementioned stations to almost double while call levels and type remain static.

The RFU will review the new consultation paperwork in due course and formulate a response in whatever form we deem necessary.

WSFRS consultation paperwork can be found here.