The other side of Weymouth firefighting changes

10:00am Monday 24th November 2008

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In reply to J.Murphy (‘Fears allayed on brigade cutbacks’, You Say, November 13), I would just like to say that you have managed to quote almost word for word Fire Service spin using selected statistics, although I do note that in your first paragraph you do acknowledge that what is proposed is actually cutbacks to the service.

The alternative view on the four points you raised are as follows: 1) Were you shown the report detailing the work required by the end of the year and why is the service spending £284,000 on a building that will soon be demolished?

2) Yes, the station is in a very traffic congested part of Weymouth but so is Westhaven during rush hour and school runs. Incidentally, none of the staff at Weymouth are concerned about the location of their station. That is not an issue.

3) For as long as I can remember, the drill yard has been used for practical exams, drilling by wholetime and retained crews-sometimes together, and more recently, rope and water rescue training, Princes trust and SPARC courses. Size has never been an issue.

4) For years the station was host to community groups,guides, brownies, sea and air cadets and schools who were given fire safety advice or were working towards fire badges. More recently a ground floor function room was used by groups for meetings, toilet facilities are available and the ladies could easily be adapted for disabled use.

There is to be a public meeting at Budmouth Technology college on November 28 at 6pm.

Maybe you would like to attend and hear the concerns of your local firefighters and you will discover that what you deem to be scaremongering and hearsay is in fact a real threat to the fire and rescue capability in this town.

Weymouth firefighter, Name and address supplied.