Firefighters fear further cuts in Hertfordshire (From Watford Observer)

Firefighters fear further cuts in Hertfordshire

4:00pm Wednesday 22nd October 2008

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Firefighters have questioned whether more frontline services will be cut following Hertfordshire County Council's potential loss of £28million in Icelandic bank accounts.

Following the closure of Bovingdon and Radlett fire stations, council chiefs promised there would be no more cuts "during the lifetime of the administration".

But members of the Fire Brigades Union have raised fears this assurance may be broken, following the collapse of several foreign banks where the council had made millions of pounds of deposits.

Herts FBU brigade secretary Tony Smith said: “We have major concerns that we are about to see a second wave of cuts like those we experienced when two fire stations were closed and several frontline firefighter posts were lost. We said at the time that this was wrong and meant a greater level of risk for the public. We are already cut to the bone and any further cuts will no doubt mean that lives will be put at further risk”.

Hertfordshire firefighters are now organising for an extensive campaign to lobby local and central government politicians to prevent cuts and invest more money to ensure the provision of a well equipped and professionally trained fire and rescue service for the county.

Steve Duncan, chairman of the Fire Brigades Union for Herts, added: “Put simply, our service is already stretched to the limit and if they cut our funding any further then something on the frontline is going to snap."

A Fire and Rescue representative said it was "wrong" to suggest services will suffer as a result of the Icelandic bank problems.

She said: "We have not broken, and will not break any promises in relation to fire service cuts and the closure of two part-time stations in 2006 and other changes did not increase risk. There is no link between those closures and firefighter fatalities.

"Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is nowhere near being stretched to the limit and it is not Hertfordshire firefighters organising a pre-emptive campaign - it is the Union."

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