FIRE bosses were accused of failing to reveal the real number of incidents attended by Warwick fire station during a heated public meeting to discuss fire service cuts.
About 100 concerned residents
attended Myton School on Monday to protest over plans put forward by Warwickshire Fire and Rescue
Service to axe jobs and close seven stations, including Warwick.
Among the protestors was MP James Plaskitt whose petition to save Warwick fire station has already been signed by more than 5,000 people.
He said: “That so many people have signed the petition shows the strength of feeling there is.”
But the Warwick and Leamington MP also accused the fire service of putting the wrong information in the consultation documents.
Mr Plaskitt, who lives in Warwick, said: “There is a section in the consultation document showing statistics of activity levels at the station, and in
respect of Warwick, it says that over the last five years there were 1,231 incidents But I’ve been in to the fire station and gone through the log books and counted 2,026 incidents. Warwick
fire station is the busiest retained fire station in the south of the county. Can you explain that?”
Glen Ranger, the county’s deputy chief fire officer, defended the figures and said the fire service wasn’t trying to hide anything. He added: “I should imagine the figures were the number of incidents on Warwick ground, not the number they attended altogether.
“We’ll look into it, it won’t change the plans but it’s not something we’re trying to keep a secret.”
Residents also raised concerns about the pressure that would be put on Leamington fire station if Warwick fire station was to close.
Tim Griffiths, of Myton Road, said the towns were only linked by two bridges, which were heavily con-
gested at peak times. And other residents said the area would need more fire cover in the coming years, not less, as thousands of new homes are due to be built.
But Mr Ranger insisted there was “no issue” with the number of
incidents Leamington would have to attend.
“It is an easily manageable number,” he said. “We will still be able to attend fires in Warwick from Leamington in the same time as we do now from Warwick –
that’s 10 minutes for urban areas and
20 minutes for non-urban areas.
“We don’t see an increase in call-outs from Leamington because we intend to respond to a third less calls, which are hoax calls. At the minute, 35 per cent of calls are false alarms which is a massive drain.
“We are professional firefighters and are not going to make proposals that would put lives at risk.”
The new chief fire office for Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service was also called on to have his say.
Graeme Smith, who took over the top job from Paul Fuller on Monday, said: “It’s important to understand that there are some good things in the
proposals. But there is an impact, there’s no getting away from that.
“Fires are very difficult things, they are horrendous.
“We’re proposing to shift money from response to prevention – it’s
difficult to do everything all at once.
“It is a dilemma – we’re looking at things globally and trying to do the best we can.
“But it’s right for residents to look at things from a Warwick point of view. We’ll look at them together and see what we can do.”
Another public consultation is taking place on October 14 at Kenilworth School and Sports College starting at 6.30pm.
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