Save Warwick Fire Station
On Monday night I attended Myton School for the consultation meeting into the proposed closure of seven fire stations (including Warwick and Kenilworth) by Warwickshire Fire and Rescue service.
There was loads of opposition to the plans and much well-expressed passion from the townsfolk on the floor. Up on the stage, meanwhile, came a display of quite breathtaking complacency from assistant county fire officer Glen Ranger.
I don't know enough about fire and rescue service operations to comment on much of what was said at the meeting but I do know the layouts of the roads between Leamington and Warwick and Leamington and Kenilworth. And for Ranger to shrug aside concerns about fire-engines getting snarled up in congestion if they all had to start from Leamington with a glib it-won't-be-a-problem shrug was just crass.
This man appears to think that fire engines have wings. It doesn't matter how accomplished the firefighters are or how powerful the engines, if they are stuck in stationary, single-lane traffic by the Portobello Bridge or on the A452 past Chesford into Kenilworth, they are going nowhere.
It may be that, under the proposed new system, many incidents would be attended as quickly or even more quickly, but it is 100 per cent certain that, at times, there will be incidents at rush hours where this would not be the case. And lives will be lost.
At the meeting feelings on the floor ran high. The phrase "gambling with people's lives" was used. Spot on. That's exactly what it amounts to. And what's at stake? People's property. And people's lives.
I hope that when these proposals are thrown out, as they MUST be, Glen Ranger will have the dignity to resign. It was shocking - and pretty worrying - to hear a person of his seniority in the service blathering away and fobbing off questions and defending the indefensible, all the while referring to a consultation document full of gobbledygook, loaded questions and massaged statistics.
PLEASE help us defeat this appalling scheme. PLEASE register your protest:
On line at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fireconsultation
By email to fireandrescue@warwickshire.gov.uk
By writing to Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, Improvement Plan Consultation, Service Headquarters, Warwick Street, Leamington Spa, CV32 5LH.
Many thanks.
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Brian Halford - Brian Halford’s look at Edgbaston.
Hear hear. Stop these damned bean-counters. Bureaucrats cost lives.
Please everybody go the facebook site, sign the petition and write to the councillors. If we lose the fire station it'll be a tragedy and we'll never get it back.
I heard the newly installed chief fire officer, Graham Smith, on local radio on Tuesday morning saying that one of the reasons for all the cuts is to get a fire boat!
I'd love to know how many times there has been the need for a fire boat in the county over the last 100 years.
Perhaps crews will be making the journey from Leamington to Warwick by river which is why Mr Ranger was not concerned by the worries of residents.
What about that call-out statistic in the consultation document that James Plaskitt exposed as a total lie? How can we have any faith in anyone who would allow (or encourage) that to happen?
Brian, have absolutely no idea what all this is about but will do as you say!
Many thanks Droitwich. In a nutshell: Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth - three towns nestling close to each other in south Warwickshire - have historically each had their own fire station. Plans have just been published to close the stations at Kenilworth and Warwick, the bizarre and ludicrous contention being that those two towns would be as well-protected by engines based in Leamington as they always have been by their own crews.
It is a jaw-droppingly stupid and cavalier scheme which has triggered a huge campaign of opposition but the very fact that such a scheme can be formulated and promoted in the the first place is alarming enough to suggest that no stone of opposition should be left unturned.
Actually, that's not much of a nutshell is it? But I feel strongly about this one.
Thanks again, DB. All support for our campaign to prevent this crime against our community is really, really welcome.
Me too, born in Warwick 63 years ago. Will sign up and try to help