Four Black Country fire stations will close and be replaced by two new ones as part of a shake-up of the service in the West Midlands, it was announced today.
So-called “improvement plans” to build eight new fire stations in total but close 10 existing ones were announced by West Midlands Fire Service.
In the Black Country, the service will close Halesowen, Cradley Heath, Wednesbury and Smethwick stations and build one new station in the Halesowen-Cradley area and another in Wood Green, which is in Wednesbury near to the Walsall border.
The existing stations that would close under the plans would see with their fire engines moved to other current or new stations but fire chiefs have not ruled out a reduction in the number of posts through “natural wastage”.
Staff were being briefed about the plans today and a period of public consultation will start tomorrow and run until January 7 so people can comment on the plans.
But one West Midlands firefighter who did not wish to be named said: “This is the first we’ve heard of this and will come as a big shock.”
West Midlands Fire Service says the proposals have been drawn up after detailed research to identify better locations for fire stations and say it will result in improved overall response times.
Bosses at the service also say some of those stations being replaced are out-dated and in poor condition.
Fire service Chief Fire Officer Frank Sheehan said: “Our aim is to continually improve the service we provide to the community and we are constantly reviewing our resources to ensure they are used as effectively as possible.”
New stations are also planned in Birmingham. Bosses say it is an overall plan for the next three-to-five years and no precise time-scales can be given.
28 Comments
This means that the response time will increase as appliances will have to travel further. Anyone can see this except the accountants.
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The goverment can ort out the “financial world” - but cannot spend money on saving lives! This is a joke and as “Anth” commented on will mean response times will be increased, and when an appliance is dealing with an incident in another area - the houses surronding the stations currently will be at risk!!
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This is silly and will only put lives at risk. It just doesnt make sense, just re vamp the new stations- like in Stourbridge, they had millions spent on their new place of work.
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We are all grateful for the excellent job our armed services do overseas (rightly) but seem to forget the other services that we are more likely to see on a daily basis here. I echo what has already been said in that it seems easy to find vast sums when the financial market needs a bail out but not at other times. This might save money but how much is a life worth when that extra two minutes means the victim can no longer be saved alive?
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This is a disgrace, instead of bailing out debt ridden banks who have bought on all this financial crisis thereselves, why not improve such services as fire stations and decrease the risk of loss of life due to response times, this is only going to further enhance that!!
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The cuts in fire stations coincide with the introduction of a new late shift pattern.
In essence the appliances on this late shift will eventually be phased out as part of ‘modernisation’. Im afraid this is just the beginning and the public need to know this.
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who thinks these ideas up can someone tell me what is wrong with the service now. its all about saving money, by the way who gets the money what is saved, not the people who pay. when and wherever there is change the whole system goes to pot if its not broken dont try to fix it i think its a case of selling the sites and moving to one inferior for the purpose
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will the council now lower our council tax because we’ll all have to put the hose pipes on god forbid if our homes go up in smoke.
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My husband is a firefighter.West Mids Fire Circus as it is known, is determined to put the public and firefighters lives at risk - they have so many chiefs and assistants wandering around at head quarters who are paid a hell of a lot of money for carrying a clipboard (people who have never been a firefighter or haven’t done the job for long enough to understand what is really needed)….in fact there are about 246 firefighters to ensure machines are on the run - but at head quarters in Bham alone there are 400…thats where all the public money is going - please dont take this out on the firefighters on the ground who will always do their very very best to help and serve the public - even with out of date uniforms and equipment
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So the powers that be can save the bankers, but close down fire stations…. wonder if next council tax bill will have (fire) (police) (civil defence) (£250,000 for chairman of bank)
AS for reducing fire engines at night.WHA? iv been too close to a fire at night, and it was put out by the fire brigade (i don’t care if it sounds military) who at 04:10 am were very cheerful.
So that’s what the free fire alarms are for. It wakes you up and you have to wait until the morning to have it put out???
Fire, our oldest friend, our oldest enemy
The word for people that thought this up, sounds just like bankers!!
Yes stupid bankers.
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A while back there was a house fire opposite us in Park Road, Bearwood, 7 minutes and the fire brigade was there, sadly they were unable to save the house that had the fire, but their prompt actions saved the houses either side of that house, had this fire happened when the new proposals were in place, I have no doubt that the 3 houses would have been lost, and as the two houses either side were occupied, there was the real danger of loss of life, as it was there was only severe smoke damage to the two houses either side.
In our area, the water pressure is totally useless, using a hose wouldn’t be an option, this proposed action is just total lunacy and the person who is proposing it should publicly put their name to this, not hide behind obscure organisations and committees saying they are responsible, we want to know who the person / people are who are instigating this cost cutting exercise, remember your not running a superstore, your running a lifesaving operation and if you get it wrong, its lives that are lost.
To the clowns at the top, is your telephone number salary more important that a child’s life????
Jim Gull
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What these idiots fail to understand is that when Firefighters enters a building on fire they require a back up crew for their safety. If this means back up appliances are coming from further away rescues of the public may be delayed. They attempt to cushion the blow by saying the current stations are inadequate and you will get a nice new station. In an age of increased terrorist action we do not need a new station we need people who will ride on the appliances and do the nitty gritty when the proverbial hits the fan. This will not be achieved by cutting back on staff (through natural wastage). This Government fails to understand the importance of our Emergency Services until something happens that put them in the public eye i.e London Bombings, floods and more recently the tragedy at Atherstone On Stour (2nd November 2007 Please Remember Them). Our Emergency and Armed services do a fantastic job in testing circumstances with equipment defeciences. Somebody has got to be responsible for these decisions and I hope he or she sleeps soundly at night.
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Janey, thank you for that input, and I hope your not alone in telling us it how it is, come on fire service personnel, give us the public the real picture, don’t let the paper shufflers / pen pushers, get away with trying to blind us with facts that have no relevance to the real occupational hazards you guys have to face on a daily basis.
This is exactly what happened in the NHS, and now we have a top heavy system, that’s got more inexperienced staff controlling it, than doctors, nurses etc, who are actually doing the real work.
When we had experienced medical people running our hospitals, we didn’t have MRSA, or CDiff, that same thing applies to our councils and government, we put people into positions of control of our lives, who’s only ability is to be able to convince us the electorate that we should vote for them, the qualifications to do the job is not taken into account.
How can an accountant who’s only experience of fires, is to visit a bonfire in on November 5th , have the experience to be able to plan a lifesaving service like the Fire service.
Remember , you get it wrong and people die.
Jim Gull
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When will people learn that the only reason the fire brigade are around is to bail out stupid people who set fire to their frying pan, leave a lit cigarette in their bed or get stuck up a tree.
If people were charged for calling out the firemen then we’d soon see them buck their ideas up. Why should the rest of us have to pay for such a large unneccesary service. There should be one fire engine in each town at the most.
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When will people learn that the only reason the fire brigade are around is to bail out stupid people who set fire to their frying pan, leave a lit cigarette in their bed or get stuck up a tree.
If people were charged for calling out the firemen then we’d soon see them buck their ideas up. Why should the rest of us have to pay for such a large unneccesary service.
There should be one fire engine in each town at the most.
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Andy French, what sort of an prat are you?
What about Arson, Floods, Traffic Accidents, People caught up in natural disasters should they be charged for being rescued? Lets hope you never find yourself in a situation where you need us cause I’ll be asking for your credit card details before we rush in to save you.
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Well, anonymous firefighter, it seems you’re after the money like all the rescue services staff are. Natural disasters are not people’s faults and of coursethey shouldn’t be charged. But the numpties who are stupid, ie the careless ones, should be made to cough up to teach them a lesson.
Why the way, why are you anonymous, what have you done to be ashamed of your name?
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Its probably because Andy, that he doesnt want to be up on a discipline charge for speaking his own mind, as is my reason for wanting to remain anonymous. the idea to have one fire engine in every town is ludicrous, the public have perceptions of firemen sitting round playing snooker and watching tv. This is totally wrong, as well as attending incidents they are out promoting fire safety which keeps the public safe in their homes. Firefighters can be relied upon at all times to be there when you need them and perform to the highest of their ability - whatever is thrown at them. People should respect them, you never know when you might need them. They are there within minutes of an incident which is more than can be said of our other emergency services.
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Well Said.
Mr French I suggest you do some research into the subject before making your ill informed pathetic comments.
You are obviously someone who is an exception to life and does not make mistakes, are you suggesting that if someone falls asleep with a cigarette, sets fire to there house, loses there family and all there possesions that they should then be charged by the Fire Service?
We as a tax payers pay for the Fire Service to be there if and when needed, as I said before if something happened to you, you would be looking for help and if we took longer to get to you because of reduced fire cover you would have something to say then wouldn’t you?
All we can do is try to educate the community which is what we do on a daily basis at Community centres, fete’s, schools etc and also by completing safety checks in people homes, unfortunately after all of this these accidents still happen and to suggest that charging people for causing fires is going to reduce them is small minded.
And for your information we can and do charge people for incidents that are not deemed a necessary call out.
If I were you I would float off on that cloud that you live on and keep your comments to yourself.
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I think for the purposes of sensible debate, we should all totally ignore andy french’s comments, as they are about as ill informed and ill thought through as they could be, and display a total lack of intelligence.
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Andy.French, I am so glad you turned up mate, I was feeling so lonely, I thought I was the only perfect human being on the planet, at least now I know I have got you here with me.
I am with you mate, all these house fires must have been started deliberately, all these factory fires that often need 10 or 20 fire engines, that’s got to stop, just send the one appliance, that one can obviously do the job of 20, we can always send the guys back to the station for a different type of appliance if the need arises, IE, should they suddenly need a turntable ladder or a Simon Snorkel etc.
And of course look at all the money we could save on backup for those fire fighters while they are putting their lives on the line.
Think we would have to make it law though that there are to be no large fires in Oil depots, and of course no more multi car pile ups on the motorways.
I will have a word with the big guy up there, to stop all the storms that cause floods, and take off the tops of houses
Andy.French, the way I see it mate you have two choices now, either get a job with the other clowns proposing to shut down these stations down, or come and share my padded cell with me, its nice here in the world away from reality.
Jim Gull, Bearwood.
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Andy French & Jim G - You are both a waste of space and I honest dont wish anythibng to happen to you both - Kid’s putting Fireworks through your letter box, a drink drive causing you to have an RTA (Road Traffic Accident) if you didnt know! Or any natural disasters happening to you! As you dont deserve the service these guys/gals provide day & night and put there own lives at risk for people they dont even know!
People run out of burning buildings to escape the heat and the toxic smoke - and the Firefighters run straight passed them to save lives and property! 1 Appliance to a warehouse or house fire you are both a Joke!!!
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Chris - Halesowen , I would strongly suggest you read between the lines on my previous comment.
Jim Gull, Bearwood.
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I was the last one to comment on this issue 4 days ago, I fully expected hundreds of other people to protest about these proposals but no, as usual the pathetic Joe Public sits back and accepts its going to happen, is it any wonder the country is in the state its in?????
God forbid your house is one of the burning properties that needs a fire service vehicle, only to find out that the only one available has been sent to another job.
Don’t complain when its too late.
Jim of Bearwood.
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Jim
Stop being so silly.
Just because they close a few stations (after let it be said a thorough and well thought out business case), the firemen will still be able to put the fires out. It may take them longer to get back to the fire station, but I’m sure they won’t miss out on playing too much snooker.
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Terry Tibbs, sorry, so you were privy to these meeting were you?
Your comment “Just because they close a few stations (after let it be said a thorough and well thought out business case” is the kind of comment I would expect from a, uniformed child.
Can I remind you of the recent banking disaster!!!!!!!! All those experts that were trusted to run the countries banking industry, wow , what a success they made of that job.
Look at our hospitals that are now run by expert accountants, when I was young MRSA, and CDiff were unknown, when doctors and matrons were responsible for cleanliness on the wards, when hygiene came before profit targets.
Sandwell Council is run by a £140.000 pound a year expert, a recent report disclosed that Sandwell Council was 4th worst borough in the UK.
Remember an expert built the Titanic!!!!!!
You believe in experts if you like, I will believe in obvious facts, and those are that if a fire engine has to travel from Stoney Lane, Smethwick, to Bearwood, and that journey can be done in 7 minutes, and the experts get rid of that station, and a fire tender has to then travel from Oldbury, that is further away, and is in the middle of a known traffic congestion area and its likely to take 15 minutes to get to a fire, then sorry even a Muppet can see that lives are going to be lost.
But hey look on the bright side, there will be more money available to pay the hundreds of thousands of pounds salaries, to these so called experts.
Sorry Terry Tibbs, come back when you’re a bit more competent to comment on these sort of subjects.
Jim of Bearwood.
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Closing fire stations anywhere should never happen,lives are more important. October 2oth we handed 13,000+ signatures to W.M.F.S. at their new £11MILLION headquarters Birmingham. They want to close Sedgley fire station too, its nothing to do with money,so they say. what a joke.
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I have been lead campaigner to save sedgley fire station from closure, yes as Hazel said we have recently handed 13,106 signatures, which has been an overwhelming response from the public, which I thank them all for their support, but yes this is just the start of the WMFS proposals, this is “reverse engineering” they have made a decision, so they are making their figures fit this decision - not basing it on “Actual” Facts. The senior officers clearly want to gain points and have a closure of a fire station as a brownie point on their sleeve - how far do you go up the ladder if you close a station? (the new version of snakes and ladders!!) WMFS have purchased Targeted Response Vehicles (TRV) these vehicles will deal with low risk fires around the area - but in time their duties will no doubt increase to other emergency calls, reducing fire engines and firefighter safety even more - watch this space!
People who think we should have less emergency cover and save on their budgets - should think about their own car/home insurance, as you dont want to pay you premimum each year - you still do pay it, as although you dont want to have to claim on your insurance, it is security knowing it is their should there be a need to use it, Like a fire engine will be their if you need one?
The fire authority need to look at the real facts, not the so called facts the fire service are putting in front of them!!
Public Support is whats needed -we need to stick together, fight for what you believe in.
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