Fire and rescue cut beyond safety levels

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According to a recent article in the Herald, county councillors believe that the fire service is safer in their hands than it would be in those of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Furthermore, the Herald expressed the view, in its Comment column, that the fire and rescue services have been transformed and are enjoying continuous improvement.

I would suggest that this newspaper should be consulting our fire fighters before coming out with views that are contrary to what is actually happening out in the real world.

If the PCC took over the management of both fire and rescue services she could hardly do a worse job than the fire authorities has done over the past few years; they have cut the services not just to the bone but actually into it.

I am sure that the vast majority of the public has absolutely no idea how much pressure the county’s fire and rescue services are under as they try to cope with the results of financial cuts. These have resulted in fewer appliances and fewer firefighters being available to come to their aid in the event of an emergency.

You only have to read report after report in our newspapers to realise that our fire stations can no longer cope on their own with many of the fires that they are called upon to deal with.

In May last year, when a fire broke out in a high-rise block of city flats, the nearest three fire stations had to call upon appliances from two other towns, both 12 miles away, because the number of the city’s appliances had been reduced so severely. It once had at least 10, it now has 4.