Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is planning to close eight on-call fire stations, cutting emergency fire cover for local communities that will put lives at risk.
What is being cut?
- Eight fire stations: Bradford-on-Avon, Charmouth, Cranborne, Hamworthy, Maiden Newton, Mere, Ramsbury, and Wilton
- 96 firefighter posts
- Eight fire engines: Bradford-on-Avon, Cranborne, Charmouth, Hamworthy, Maiden Newton, Mere, Ramsbury, and Wilton
- Six specialist vehicles
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. Dorset and Wiltshire is already nearly 2 minutes slower than the national average in arriving to life- and property-threatening fires.
- Many serious fires require more than one fire engine to respond safely and effectively: for example, a house fire with a person reported trapped inside requires three. Second fire engine arrival times are already under-reported by the service. Cutting frontline fire engines will result in residents waiting longer for vital back-up to arrive, putting them at greater risk.
- Reduced resilience for major incidents. Fewer firefighters and fewer fire engines mean less capacity to respond when multiple emergencies happen at once.
Why this matters
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is already stretched to breaking point. Since 2010, the service has lost a fifth of its firefighters – and cutting another 96 roles would strip away nearly another 10% of the frontline workforce.
The consequences of under-resourcing are already being felt. In August 2025, a major wildfire at Holt Heath brought the service to its knees. With too few crews and resources available locally, reinforcements had to be drafted in from as far away as Merseyside. As climate change drives more frequent and more severe wildfires, floods, and extreme weather events, the demand on the service is only increasing. Reducing frontline capacity now will make it harder to respond quickly and effectively, putting lives, homes and entire communities at risk.
Management is trying to make financial savings, but cuts to frontline resources are not savings at all. They come at the expense of public safety.
How can you help?
Attend the next rally to demand that the Fire Authority abandon plans to cut emergency fire cover.
Where: Salisbury City Hall, Malthouse Lane, Salisbury SP2 7TU
When: 9 am, 30 June
Sign the petition and call on the fire authority to reject the cuts outright.
Write to your councillor and call on them to stand up for their firefighters and constituents.
Write to your MP to demand more funding to stop the cuts and rebuild the fire service.
