Leominster campaigners brand fire engine cuts 'stupidity'

Jan Lockett, from Leominster, said she believed the town needed two fire engines

Community campaigners have warned the removal of an on-call fire engine from their town could cost lives.

A review is underway by Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service which may see the removal of eight engines across the two counties.

The chief fire officer said he wanted to better resource their busiest stations and increase the number of full time firefighters by a fifth.

But people in smaller towns described the review as short-sighted.

Those towns include Leominster, Bromyard and Malvern and Jan Lockett, from the Leominster Info Facebook Group, believed the town needed two engines.

"We don't have our own dedicated ambulance station anymore, they have to come from Hereford," she said.

"If we have to wait for a fire engine from further afield, it might be too late.

"Not only do they rescue from fires and road traffic accidents but they've recently rescued a local lady from her flooded home."

Leominster fire station would get more firefighters under the plans

A severe fire which engulfed two homes in the Buckfield Road area of Leominster in June 2022 was attended by eight local crews.

Although no-one was injured, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service crews were praised by their group commander for stopping it spreading to nearby buildings.

Today, the properties remain fenced off awaiting renovation but neighbours were concerned lives might be put at risk if there was to be another serious fire and Leominster lost one of its two fire engines.

"The plan is stupidity," said resident Roger Pritchard.

"If you can tell me there isn't going to be a fire then I agree with you but it doesn't make a lot of sense.

"It's like saying let's close the hospitals because no one is sick - what's the difference?"

Chief Fire Officer Jonathon Pryce said money was needed for more firefighters

Chief Fire Officer Jonathon Pryce insisted the proposals were modernising the service and all the money saved by reducing fire engine numbers would be reinvested.

"The availability of these on-call fire engines is on average about 32% across the year," he said.

"We will reinvest almost a million pounds (£981,000) into recruiting whole-time firefighters to crew our busiest engines that are available 100% of the time.

"We don't need that fire engine there, a 4x4 vehicle is a mechanism crews can use to take an active role in an incident. We want more front line firefighters."

The fire service is looking at how to hire more firefighters in the two counties

Leominster should see an increase in full time firefighters, he added, while there would be about 50 on duty across Hereford and Worcester during the day and 23 immediately available at night.

The BBC was told by Mr Pryce that budget cuts taken in 2014, along with an ongoing difficulty in recruiting on-call firefighters nationally, have left the service with little resilience, particularly at busier stations in larger towns which can attend thousands of calls a year.

An inspection report from His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services, published in November, said Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service was improving.

But it was still rated adequate for responding to fires and other emergencies and in making the best use of resources.

Trevor Connolly, from the Fire Brigades Union, raised doubts about the reallocation of resources

Last month the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) condemned the proposals as it said they were "a serious threat to public and firefighter safety".

"At Wyre Forest, we've lost a number of trained staff already, if we lose an engine here, we'd only have one on night-time cover," said Trevor Connolly, from the FBU.

"We have had large incidents in Kidderminster in recent years when we've needed extra support from neighbouring brigades.

"Ideally, this would be about reallocating resources but we don't think that will happen".