Letter: Fire service answers critic

Letter: I do not usually think it appropriate to respond to letters in the Shropshire Star but feel sufficiently moved by the musings of P Johnson (a frequent correspondent on fire and rescue service issues) in your letters page, to do so, especially as they appeared on a day all fire services were mourning the loss of firefighters.

I have invited P Johnson to speak to me on numerous occasions but he has dec-lined, so I am not clear about his motivation to write to the paper so frequently.

Mr Johnson continues his ongoing tirade against fire-fighters across the country to say that the fire service is not value for money.

In Shropshire we cost the average family £1.61 per week. For this our local communities get 24-hour emergency coverage 365 days a year; free home safety checks and smoke alarms; young people are educated in fire and road safety; businesses protected from fire; vulnerable citizens cared for and the environment safeguarded. Firefighters also provide many other life-saving and community safety services.

He has stated in previous letters, and repeats in his most recent, that firefighters are "lazy". He also continues to state that firefighters do not face risks to their health and safety any greater than other "trades".

I am sure that it has not escaped your readers' attention that on the same day Mr Johnson's letter was published, the Shropshire Star re-ported the sad loss of two more of our valiant firefighters whilst they were rescuing members of the public and extinguishing a fire in a block of flats in Southampton.

Paul Raymond

Chief Fire Officer

Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service