Shropshire fire service cuts 'could cost lives'

At a public meeting held last night retained firefighters from Prees Fire Station described potential cuts to the service as "unnecessary".

Speaking to about 50 members of the public, firefighter Matt Page said the cost of running the station is £140,000 a year.

But he said if a person dies in a fire it will cost the Government an average of £1.3 million. Mr Page said: "The average cost of a death in an accident for the Government is £1.3 million. That is essentially what you and I are worth.

"You get to this figure by adding up the cost of the work that will be required from all the emergency services, you then have to look at the cost of any insurance payout and any investigation work that needs to be done.

"Our station costs £140,000 a year to run. If we save one life we would save enough money to keep us going for nine years."

Shropshire fire chief John Redmond and county MPs are due to hold talks today with fire minister Brandon Lewis to raise concerns over budget cuts.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service says it is on target to meet £3.2 million in savings required by 2014 by introducing pay freezes, reducing the number of firefighters, officers and support staff and adopting a leaner approach to administrative functions.

But the news that a further £1.9 million in cuts is required by 2020 would potentially mean the removal of fire engines from major towns or closing up to four on-call fire stations with Prees, Baschurch, Clun and Hodnet all under threat.

Mr Page revealed that firefighters from Prees have been called out to 85 incidents this year including 33 house fires, nine road accidents and nine chimney fires.

He also showed a video of a fire in a teenager's bedroom which started due to a faulty hair-dryer. The entire room was engulfed in flames within two minutes.

He said: "If we are not here, response times will increase and instead of being with you in minutes a crew will be 20 minutes away.

"On the video you can see how fast fire spreads. Another 20 minutes the fire would have spread to other rooms.

"We wouldn't have been able to save the property and definitely not a life if someone was trapped."

Councillor Paul Gill, chairman of Prees Parish Council, urged people to take part in an online questionnaire to show they don't want stations to close.

He said: "If you are anything like me you will be shaking your head in disbelief at what you are hearing. It is ridiculous and scary that we could lose our fire station. We have to encourage everyone to fill out the questionnaire."

Last night's meeting was part of a wider public consultation about the future of Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service and where cuts in its budget should be made.

Options include the closure of four rural fire stations and the control centre in Shrewsbury could be merged with Hereford and Worcester's service.

Councillor Stuart West, who is chairman of the fire authority, says the service has so far absorbed £3.2m but a further £1.9m is needed to be saved by 2020.

Under the plans, Prees has been identified as one of four of the service's 23 stations that are in "low risk" areas, along with Baschurch, Clun and Hodnet.

Other options include removing a full-time fire engine from the Shrewsbury or Telford area.

The service has seen a 10 per cent cut in firefighters and support staff and a 25 per cent reduction in senior officers since 2009.

Mr West has also said that crewing fire engines in different ways and sharing support services had also helped trim the £3.2m from its £20m budget. To have your say visit www.shropshirefire.gov.uk