Fire stations to close

The Advertiser understands that Nottinghamshire Fire Authority will today announce the closure of three retained fire stations in Nottinghamshire and the axing of their crews.

The retained stations to close are Collingham, Edwinstowe and Warsop.

Retained stations are staffed by volunteers who live or work within the communities they serve and respond to pagers in time of emergency.

Bingham Fire Station, a retained fire station, is safe, but its parent whole time station, West Bridgford, is likely to be relocated to Ruddington and the existing site sold.

Ollerton Fire Station is one of three stations shared by full, or whole time firefighters where the retained sections are to be lost.

Ninety part-time jobs are being lost in total.

Sources say a new fire station is to be built in Ollerton that will serve the Edwinstowe and Warsop areas.

This means six of the county's 36 fire engines will be taken out of service.

The Fire Brigades Union was informed yesterday and is meeting with the fire authority today.

An announcement is expected later.

The extreme cuts are said to be made necessary by the need to find £3m in savings next year.

Neighbouring county fire services are said to be far worse affected, mainly due to prudent financial management within the Nottinghamshire service in recent years.

Sources describe devestation among the firemen affected and have questioned why the retained are being targeted when whole-time stations with seven firemen per watch cost £1.1m a year to run while retained stations cost around £200,000.

Nottinghamshire Fire Chief Frank Swann has told the Advertiser in the past that, while he could rule nothing out, the closure of fire stations would always be a last resort.

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