Firefighters in Oxfordshire are raising serious concerns over Oxfordshire County Council plans to cut the fire and rescue service across the county.
The council has opened a public consultation today, 28 October, on plans to close three fire stations in Eynsham, Woodstock and Henley. The plans would also reduce night-time fire cover, leaving only five wholetime fire engines available across the county at night.
Under these plans, the service will also lose five fire engines.
Rewley Road and Kidlington fire stations could also be merged into one base in Oxford, with a special rescue vehicle to be cut from Kiddlington. 57 firefighters face being forced to work 12-hour shifts, and firefighters say they could face losing their homes in Kiddlington as a result of the plans for Oxford.
The Fire Brigades Union says that these cuts will put public safety at risk, and deepen a crisis in recruitment and retention of firefighters.
The FBU is calling for members of the public to raise concerns via the public consultation, which is open for 12 weeks.
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright said:
After fifteen years of austerity, resilience has been decimated in the fire and rescue service. We have lost 1 in 5 firefighters to cuts since 2010, with stations closing and fire cover slashed across the UK.
Labour must end this austerity and provide the investment that fire and rescue services desperately need. Instead of consulting on further dangerous cuts, local authorities and chief fire officers must pile pressure on central government.”
Chris Wycherley, executive council member for the Southern region said:
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has been cut to the bone over the last fifteen years. Plans to close three fire stations and reduce fire cover at night will impact the entire county and put the public at greater risk.
Firefighters are already working tirelessly to keep the public safe without adequate resources, in the face of increasing flooding and other extreme weather events. Slashing fire cover further will mean it will take longer for firefighters to arrive at an emergency, at a time when every second counts.
The FBU is calling on the council to scrap these dangerous plans, and to lobby central government to invest in the fire service. Members of the public can stand up for their fire and rescue service by opposing the plans in the public consultation.”
