Bedworth to lose full-time firemen from next month

[dutchman]

Full-time firefighters will no longer be based at Bedworth Fire Station as from the beginning of March.



A deadline to remove officers from the life-saving base in Park Road has been changed from the end of the financial year to February 29.

The end of the extra Leap Year day will also see the station lose one of its two fire engines and be reliant on a part-time retained crew instead, as part of a new system being implemented by Warwickshire County Council.

A row is now simmering between chiefs at the cashstrapped local authority with Labour county councillor Richard Chattaway and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) who both fear that lives could be put at risk.

This comes ahead of a launch of a new Small Fires Unit, in the form of a specially kitted out 4x4 vehicle, which will be based at the station and will provide cover throughout the borough, including in Nuneaton.

County councillor Chattaway, who is responsible for Bede ward, said: “While I would welcome this unit if it was going to be an extra unit in our town, it is important to remember that this is just a prelude before the Conservative administration takes away our full-time unit to redeploy it in the south of the county.This, along with me, will concern many residents in the town.”

He added: “I am surprised that the powers that be are saying that Bedworth only has small fires when only last week we saw a major incident at a local store. Not to mention the fact that we are on the doorstep of the M6 motorway and a major industrial unit at Bayton Road.”

Responding to Cllr Chattaway’s concerns, county councillor Richard Hobbs, the authority’s cabinet member for community safety, explained that the move was not a cost-cutting exercise and was about the redeployment of resources to best suit the need.

“It’s worth remembering that we, as a Conservative administration, are following the advice of the chief fire officer Graeme Smith and his fire and rescue colleagues to target our resources where most needed,” he said.

“These are not cuts, we are redeploying resources and we have evidence that the Bedworth area accounts for 50 per cent of small fires. The new unit will tour the area and work with the police to stop these fires being lit in the first place and, where they do occur, be able to respond quicker without having to deploy a 15 tonne fire engine through narrow streets.”

Cllr Hobbs added: “There has been a very significant increase of 36 per cent in deliberate small fires in Warwickshire. Over half of that figure is in Nuneaton and Bedworth alone.

“This is why we feel that it is more appropriate to have a Small Fires Unit (SFU) in this high-risk location. It can get into places which are not accessible to larger appliances and will tour high-risk spots preventing fires from being started in the first place.

“This is a far more appropriate response to what our research has shown to be the local area’s need.”

The Nuneaton News contacted the Warwickshire chairman of the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) Steve Roberts, who said that the new unit would not be a suitable replacement for a fire engine.

“Small fire units have played their part in reducing the number of small fires and antisocial behaviour as well as violence against firefighters,” said the union chief.

“But the FBU does not see them as a viable alternative to fire engines.”