Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) are planning to downgrade fire stations and cut 8 fire engines. These cuts will put the public at risk.
Nationally, the fire and rescue service has been cut to the bone. Dorset & Wiltshire has lost 8% of wholetime firefighters and 9% of retained firefighters over the last fourteen years.
The service is already failing to meet the national average attendance times for primary and secondary fires. Downgrading fire stations, removing guaranteed night cover at stations, and removing the second fire engines at stations will not make the public safer.
Dorset & Wiltshire and all fire services around the country need long-term, sustained investment to recruit more firefighters, equip them properly and to keep them and the public safe. DWFRS must abandon these cuts, demand investment from central government, and do the right thing to keep the public safe.
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