These are the reasons why Hereford and Worcester fire chief believes reduction of fire engines is 'not a cut'

Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority has decided to go along with proposals to lose fire engines at Leominster near the border with Shropshire and six more across its area.

Jonathon Pryce, the Chief Fire Officer / Chief Executive at Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service service said that there will be "no reduction to the first fire engines at any of our 25 fire station locations."

Mr Pryce said that 'every penny saved' will help the service strengthen its remaining 34 fire engines by employing more full-time firefighters across both counties.

Mr Pryce said: "These proposals aim to ensure Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) make the changes needed to ensure we use our funding in order to be as efficient and effective as we possibly can.

"The outcome of the Resource Review will see the removal of seven On-Call fire engines, from fire stations with more than one fire engine, that have historically attended a very low number of incidents and have low levels of average availability primarily due to the acute challenges in recruiting and retaining On-Call Firefighters."

Mr Pryce added the will be no reduction to the first fire engines at any of the 25 fire station locations

He added: "In fact, as a result of these changes, some first fire engines should have better availability, larger crew sizes, and become more resilient.

"It must be emphasised that these changes are not cuts, and will see every penny saved reinvested into the staffing and crewing of the remaining 34 fire engines by employing more full-time firefighters across both counties and further improving how we manage and support our On-Call fire engines."

Investing more at Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service

Mr Pryce said that they will be focusing on increasing crewing and resilience on the busiest fire engines, and investing more in the remaining On-Call fire engines.

They will also be "developing some new ways of working to improve the service to our communities; this will include increasing our prevention work in some areas.

"This reinvestment of public money ensures the efficient use of our resources and funding and provides assurance to the communities we serve that we are continuously looking to provide the best service possible with the resources we have, across Herefordshire and Worcestershire."

Mr Pryce thanked people who have taken part in the consultation process.

"Your opinions are valued greatly, have been listened to and some changes to the proposals have been made as a result," he said.

"The implementation of the proposals will take place in the near future with local communication on next steps starting week commencing July 1, 2024 at the impacted locations.

"I look forward to seeing how the reinvestment ultimately improves the service to our communities with first fire engines becoming more resilient, better staffed and available more of the time."

Which fire engines are being removed from Worcester Fire and Rescue Service?

The fire engines being removed are: The second (On-Call) fire engine at Leominster; the third (On-Call) fire engine at Redditch; the fourth (On-Call) fire engine at Wyre Forest; the third (On-Call) fire engine at Worcester; the second (On-Call) fire engine at Droitwich; the second (On-Call) fire engine at Bromyard and the third (On-Call) fire engine at Hereford.

In addition the second (On-Call) fire engine at Malvern be retained, subject to a further review in two years’ time.

The third (On-Call) fire engine at Wyre Forest remains, but is required to be crewed at night time only and may recruit staffing from a wider area within an eight-minute response time radius of the fire station.

Resources available as a result of these changes are to be reinvested to provide additional wholetime crewing to add resilience to the wholetime duty system across the service and to provide increased fire engine crew sizes, as often as possible, on the first fire engines at: Worcester, Wyre Forest and Hereford fire stations.

A contingent of wholetime firefighters will be provided at Leominster and Bromyard fire stations to improve the availability of those appliances and undertake additional fire prevention activities in those areas.

Also the service is set to provide 4x4 type vehicles as a way to provide a more flexible way of deploying fire fighters to support operational incidents at Worcester, Hereford, Redditch, Wyre Forest, Bromyard and Leominster.