Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service is proposing dangerous cuts to its on-call resources that will slow emergency response times and put lives at risk.
What is being cut?
- Closure of two fire stations: Great Missenden and Stokenchurch
- Removal of seven on-call fire engines from Amersham, Beaconsfield, Buckingham, High Wycombe, and West Ashland
- A major governance change granting the Chief Fire Officer “operational independence”, reducing democratic oversight
These cuts strip away frontline capacity from communities in Buckinghamshire.
How will this affect you?
- Rural communities will be hit hardest. With local stations closed and fire engines removed, residents will be forced to rely on crews travelling from further away.
- Response times will slow. Buckinghamshire is already nearly a full minute slower than the national average in arriving to life- and property-threatening fires.
- Reduced resilience for major incidents. Fewer firefighters and fewer fire engines mean less capacity to respond when multiple emergencies happen at once.
- Weakened accountability. Granting the Chief Fire Officer operational independence risks sidelining the democratically elected fire authority and reducing public oversight.
Why this matters
Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service has endured some of the deepest cuts compared to the rest of the country, losing over a third of its firefighters since 2010. The service is already stretched to breaking point.
Management claims these latest cuts are due to ‘poor availability’ of on-call firefighters. But this problem hasn’t appeared out of nowhere. It is the result of years of failing to recruit, support and retain on-call staff. This is a managed decline that now threatens the safety of the entire county.
Instead of fixing the root causes, the fire service is proposing to remove even more frontline resources. Decisions are being based on past availability instead of potential risks communities face. Fire services exist to respond to emergencies, including the worst-case scenarios, and this must be at the core of emergency planning.
How can you help?
Sign the petition and call on the fire service to rethink and the fire authority to reject the proposals.
