Fire service downgrade will risk lives (From South Wales Argus)

Fire service downgrade will risk lives

9:42am Friday 5th January 2007

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AN experienced firefighter fears plans to downgrade the fire service in Gwent will put more lives at risk.

Sub-officer Keith Thomas, who is based in Abercarn and has served for 25 years, spoke out after a blaze in Risca on Wednesday.

The body of a 76-year-old woman, named locally as June Pearson, was found in the property.

An engine from Mr Thomas' station attended the fire at Leydene Close at about 9am.

He believes the death illustrates what he is calling the "dreadful" consequences of proposed cuts in the local fire service.

Mr Thomas, 48, of Abercarn, who did not attend the incident, fears that under the proposals more lives could be lost because part-time crews will not be able to react to incidents so quickly.

South Wales Fire Authority has decided to press ahead with plans to downgrade the stations at Abertillery, Abercarn, and Caldicot. The stations would no longer be manned from 9am to 6pm, but instead become retained stations.

The plans would mean there would be no full-time station in Monmouthshire or in the valley between Ebbw Vale and Newport, although Ebbw Vale will be upgraded to a 24-hour station.

"Hundreds of thousands of people living from Newport to Ebbw Vale will not have full-time continuous cover," said Mr Thomas. "It puts people more at risk. The population of the Western valley deserves better."

John Jenkins, secretary of the South Wales Fire Brigade Union, said the proposals could mean more people were at risk.

"It can take six minutes for retained firefighters just to get to the station," he said. "There would no longer be an immediate turn-out."

The South Wales Fire Authority say the changes must go ahead because the current system is "unsustainable".

It argues the transition would be gradual and would only become permanent once it was confident public safety was not compromised.

There was extensive fire and smoke damage to Mrs Pearson's house. Gwent Police said they are not treating the fire as suspicious.

A post-mortem has been carried out but more tests are due to be conducted before cause of death is known.

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