Fire chiefs feel the heat

Fire brigade leaders clashed with residents at a public meeting in Wolverhampton over proposals to halve the 24-hour cover provided at one of the city’s stations.

Villagers last night told fire service bosses they wanted to keep Tettenhall Community Fire Station manned around the clock. West Midlands Fire Service has proposed sending Tettenhall’s one engine to Wolverhampton’s main station at Merridale Street from 11pm to 11am each day from April 1 because research shows other areas need it more.

Chiefs told the meeting at the King’s School that this was when Tettenhall was at its lowest risk of fires.

But members of the Fire Brigades Union told the meeting that residents would be at a greater risk if the proposals went ahead.

Regional secretary Tony Nutting said: “There may be fewer house fires in Tettenhall but a house fire is a house fire whatever time.

“If a fire happens at 9am in Tettenhall the appliance will have to come from Wolverhampton and it will take a lot longer even with blue lights and sirens.”

He said a service pledge to visit schools would also not be honoured. The union said the fire service was trying to rectify a “mistake” it made two years ago when it changed Merridale Street from two engines 24 hours a day to having one available only for 12 hours.

Tony Prosser, head of community safety for the fire service, said the Tettenhall engine was called to Wolverhampton 200 times in the last year. “Tettenhall has had only 12 dwelling fires in an 18-month period – that’s less than one a month. In Wolverhampton, Tipton and Fallings Park it is significantly higher,” he added.

It costs £700,000 a year to provide an engine. This is the first time the service has tried reducing the amount of cover at a full-time station.

Resident Lesley Clarke, aged 61, of Cornwall Road, said: “I came here tonight to support the firefighters. We deserve our fire station because we work# harder than ever but all our services are going the same way.”

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