No time lost on Tenbury fire response
The loss of fire engine from a town fire station has not affected the time it takes for firefighters to get to call outs, figures have revealed.
Crews from Tenbury Wells get to incidents in under 15 minutes according to statistics released by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Fire and Rescue – and the response times have not been impacted by the re-location of one appliance from the town’s fire station.
The appliance was moved in 2014 when the two crews attended 50 incidents with a response time average of 13 minutes and six seconds.
The latest figures show that the average turnout time for the retained firefighters is 13 minutes and seven seconds, with just one crew. Between April and June, the crew attended 16 incidents including a light aircraft fire, a hazardous material leak and a handful of other fires.
Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire said she has received quarterly updates on response times since the change to ensure there was no problem.
She said: “We all value the great work fire and rescue crews do and I have been keen to keep an eye on response times to make sure that changes to appliance numbers don’t affect local cover.
“It’s clear that the single retained crew in Tenbury is able to provide the right amount of cover and I am reassured that where extra help is needed, fire service personnel are available to help out nearby.
“Across the country we have seen a significant decline in the incidence of fires but the terrible events in Grenfell Tower remind us how important a resilient level of service is.
“I will continue to keep an eye on this issue but I feel it is important to reassure Tenbury people that their emergency cover levels remains exactly the same as it was before the changes were implemented,” she said.
