Fire service to press ahead with cuts in night-time cover

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) will be pressing ahead with night-time cuts after its 'Making Surrey Safer' plan was validated by an independent review.

Surrey County Council (SCC) cabinet was today (Tuesday) presented with a petition signed by 6,090 people and told: "Cutting firefighters, engines and night-time cover doesn't make Surrey safer."

Banstead, Painshill and Egham fire stations will lose their night-time crews from October and rely on neighbouring stations between 7pm and 7am.

Author and screenwriter Emma Kennedy, who presented the petition, said: "Our fire service shouldn't be a cross your fingers and hope nothing bad happens service, it should be an insurance service with resources that are ready at all times."

Denise Turner-Stewart, SCC cabinet member for communities, said: "Prevention and protection saves lives, by preventing incidents from happening in the first place."

Ms Kennedy responded: "Risk-based cover is essentially meaningless when 75% of fatalities occur between 6pm and 9am.

"Serious fires happen without warning and no amount of prevention is going to save anyone once a fire is started."

The plan has been scrutinised and assured by the National Fire Chiefs Council Advisory Group, reviewed by inspectors at Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, externally verified by data and modelling specialists Cadcorp and now given full assurance by Brunel University.

In the report published today they said they could assure phase two, subject to SFRS creating a detailed communications plan in a single document that specifically relates to the second phase.

Ms Kennedy told SCC cabinet the Brunel report relied on statistics from March and April this year, when Surrey was in lockdown with little traffic on the road.

"You can't make good decisions based on bad data," she said.

"Out of 31 days in August, Surrey residents went 27 days and 20 evenings without sufficient fire engine cover.

"Neighbouring counties had to be called in [to Chobham Common] to cover Surrey's failings.

"This year there has been a 388% increase in London Fire Brigade having to attend in Surrey. Surrey now has the lowest number of fire and rescue personnel per 1,000 of the population."

Councillor Turner-Stewart said: "Our main objective is to ensure that incidents do not happen in the first place, which the 'Making Surrey Safer' Plan addresses by rebalancing resources.

"In an emergency, however, we will always respond to an incident."

She added: "SFRS are equipped and resourced to manage a very broad range of fire and rescue incidents on a daily basis, 24/7."