The Fire Brigades Union has revealed that on-call firefighters at Poole were called out to 15 incidents in the week following the removal of one of Poole’s 24 hour crewed fire engines: five times the number of incidents predicted by the service.
On Monday 21st October, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service removed Poole’s second full-time staffed fire engine, as part of a series of cuts to eight fire stations. Poole fire station provides fire cover across the south of the region and is the busiest in the county.
The station has been left reliant on the on-call workforce — who are referred to as retained, meaning firefighting is not their primary employment — resulting in increased pressure on the service.
Plans to cut the appliance were scheduled for 2025 and have been condemned by firefighters and local MP Neil Duncan-Jordan. Firefighters report that they received just over one week’s notice that these plans had been accelerated and their station would lose a fire engine this month.
Representatives of the service addressed a meeting of Poole’s retained firefighters, predicting that they would be called out to 2-3 incidents extra per week. However, incident data reveals that between October 21 – 24, Poole firefighters were called to 15 incidents. These included a house fire; water rescue; an attempted suicide; a road traffic collision; and a fire alarm in a high-rise tower. In addition, firefighters from Hamworthy were called out to 9 incidents.
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary said:
Fire services have been stretched far too thin by austerity, with firefighters working under immense pressure to save lives and homes. We need urgent investment in the fire service. Instead, residents of Dorset and Wiltshire are facing a further downgrading in fire cover.
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service must put public safety before cost-cutting by bringing back the disappeared fire engines immediately.”
Val Hampshire, FBU Executive Council member for the South West said:
The sudden removal of Poole’s second fire engine has immediately put the public and firefighters at greater risk. Slashing resources from one of the busiest fire stations in the county has already proved reckless and dangerous, pushing on-call firefighters beyond limits to respond to incidents.
This week of chaos has made the impact of cuts all too clear. The public deserve a fire service that is equipped to keep them safe: Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service must reverse the cuts now.”
