THERE will be no full-time firefighters at Cirencester station if council proposals go ahead.

Gloucestershire County Council, which runs Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, has suggested using only on-call retained firefighters to cover the Cirencester area.

At the moment, there are two crews of seven full-time firefighters who man Cirencester Fire Station during the day, with retained staff on call at night.

GCC’s proposal is for the station in School Lane, which has two engines, to be constantly unmanned, with retained firefighters on call 24/7.

The 14 full-time firefighters currently based at Cirencester Fire Station would be moved to other stations. The proposal is part of wider plan for changes to the fire service in the county, the Integrated Risk Management Plan.

A consultation document produced by GCC sets out the reasons for the proposed changes at Cirencester station, and points out that there has been a 33 per cent reduction in call outs in Cirencester over the last 5 years.

The document says: “Cirencester is identified and evidenced as a low activity area with ever decreasing demand in terms of emergency response.”

It adds: “Furthermore, successive attempts to recruit full-time fire fighters internally to serve at the station has proved extremely difficult due to the nature of the shift system.”

The document also lists the following facts:

• 33% reduction in incidents in Cirencester over the last 5 years

• 257 incidents in total for 2014/15

• 35 primary dwelling [home] fires in 2014/15 of which 11 were chimneys

• No interest received internally for vacancies advertised on two separate occasions

• £1.14 million would be the cost of running the station on a full time only basis.

• In comparison, Tewkesbury Fire Station which has a similar emergency call profile costs £97,823 per year to run using only retained fire fighters.

• £157,269 would be the cost of running [Cirencester] station using retained fire fighters

The document says: “There is already a well developed retained (on call) group of fire fighters established at Cirencester Fire Station.

“This would allow the service to continue to maintain two fire engines at Cirencester Fire Station without incurring any significant increase in cost.”

The document adds: “Full time fire fighters will be redeployed elsewhere.”

Full-time staff based at Cirencester station have warned that changing to a retained only system would put the public at risk.

 

A GCC spokesman stressed that the changes were only a proposal and not definite, and that public consultation is taking place on the plans until January 4.

Leader of the Cotswold District Council Lib Dems and ward councillor for St Michael's, Joe Harris, said:“I'm very disappointed to hear that Cirencester Fire Station could have its full time firefighters removed, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue are one of the best forces in the UK and this move could put that quality service at risk as well as lives. Our full time and retained firefighters do an excellent job and I want to see the service remain as it is and ultimately enhanced. Cirencester is the only full time fire station in the Cotswolds which is a huge rural area. It is further evidence that Conservative cuts are starting to bite and I'll be campaigning to ensure that our fire station retains full time staff so local residents know that when they call for assistance they won't be waiting long and they'll still receive a quality service."

For more on the consultation, see gloucestershire.gov.uk/consultglosfire