Fire station cuts not about the money, says CEO

The boss of Kent Fire and Rescue Service has insisted prospective cuts to fire stations are "actually not about the money".

The Fire Brigades Union warned that people could face "longer waits for fire appliances because of increased travel distances" under proposals to close five on-call stations in Kent.

The fire service's plans emerged after details were shared with staff by mistake.

Chief executive Ann Millington said: "The nature of the risk has changed so much in the last 20 years. What we're facing now is not what was set up in the original on-call system."

"We've got some stations with less than seven shouts a year," she told BBC Radio Kent.

"That means that their experience isn't equating to our ability to keep them safe."

Senior officials would close on-call stations in Grain, Wye, Chilham, Westerham and Cliffe under the plans.

On-call sections at 24-hour stations in Herne Bay, Deal, Tunbridge Wells and Faversham learned they too could face the axe, although full time provisions at these stations would not be affected.

The service is also proposing Thames-Side Fire Station in Northfleet and Dartford Fire Station continue having two fire engines available in the day but reducing this to one over night.

This change would facilitate a second fire engine becoming available during the day at Strood, Ashford and Folkestone stations.

Tim Green, South East chair for the Fire Brigade Union, said the resulting increased travel distances "directly reduces the chance of survival in certain types of fire and makes it harder for us to contain incidents quickly".

"We've set our position out from the very beginning that we are opposed to these cuts and that's where we stay," he told the BBC.

Green called the proposal "not good news for Kent" and said there was "the possibility that lives can be put at risk".

Millington said she wanted to "provide the best service across Kent" and that was sometimes "not by keeping stations open that can't give us enough availability".

The chief executive said affected firefighters would be offered options including voluntary redundancy, full-time contracts or annualised contracts, where they work a set amount at flexible times.

She told the BBC the service wanted to "retain their skills" and was "thinking about the different contractual offers" it could make to avoid redundancies.

"Very often people come into the on call system because they want to become whole time, so we're arranging that people are able to do that," Millington said.

She added: "We would like to have more money but at the same time we're very realistic about the fact that the government cannot actually do that.

"It's upon me and my team to think about how can we take tough decisions that we know upset people but in the end still provide fantastic cover for this county."

A public consultation on the proposed cuts is due to open on 25 June.

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