Official warns fire service cuts will put lives at risk

LIVES in Retford have been put at risk by ill thought-out fire service cuts, a top union official has warned.

Notts FBU vice chairman Bob Mould made the comments after the county's fire authority agreed to consult on cuts that would see the town's 'wholetime' cover slashed from 24 hours to 12.

As a result of the cuts, Retford fire station would keep 12 hours of daytime cover, but be supplemented at all times by retained crews of volunteers.

Mr Mould said the county's service was down to its bare minimum of fire engine crews needed to function and warned the cuts in Retford would jeopardise lives.

"With night-time cover being reduced, we believe this will affect the safety of people in Retford and the surrounding area," he said.

"If we drop below the round of fire engines that we have, if the cuts do go ahead, there's going to have to be some hard thinking."

He admitted he was also 'baffled' by the decision to reduce to 12 daytime hours of cover, rather than at night.

He said: "There's still the most fire deaths at night and it only takes a couple of minutes lying in bed, breathing smoke, to die.

"We're not going to sit back in resignation at these cuts, we will be running a campaign.

"We will be targeting councillors and MPs, talking to the local press and attending meetings.

"We've got a petition out there and we hope they take note of the 40,000 signatures we presented to them in February."

The proposed changes to Retford were included in a report examined by the Notts and City of Nottinghamshire Fire Authority on Friday.

Members of the authority were asked to pick one of three options for changes to the county's fire service.

While most options affected stations in different ways, the proposal for Retford remained the same in each option.

While the result means cuts for Retford, it's good news for Edwinstowe, which is to upgrade to a wholetime station and increase cover as a result. Other options would have seen the station gain a wholetime engine from West Bridgford, or even lose its retained engine, relying instead on cover from other stations.

Chair of Notts Fire Authority Cllr Darrell Pulk said the option chosen on the day had been recommended by chief fire officer Frank Swann from a report he had compiled listing the three possible options.

"The Fire Authority has taken on board the professional advice of the chief fire officer, and now it wants to find out what the public thinks of the changes that could be made to its fire and rescue service," he said.

"We will be launching consultation very shortly and will be encouraging members of the public, staff and partners in other organisations to give us their views of the proposals."

With the decision of which option to take made, the authority will now begin to consult with staff, the public and partner organisations.

The consultation is due to begin by the end of July and will last a period of at least 12 weeks.