There could be further avoidable loss of life in Surrey unless fire cuts are not reversed, firefighters have warned in a letter to the leader Surrey County Council, following a deadly fire in Banstead on Friday 19 March in which the first fire engine took 14 minutes to arrive.
- Cuts meant first fire engine took 14 minutes to arrive
- Fire station four minutes from incident closed after cuts
There could be further avoidable loss of life in Surrey unless fire cuts are not reversed, firefighters have warned in a letter to the leader Surrey County Council, following a deadly fire in Banstead on Friday 19 March in which the first fire engine took 14 minutes to arrive.
In the letter to Councillor Tim Oliver, firefighters labelled the tragedy and loss of life as attributable to a series of cuts under the fire service’s Making Surrey Safer Plan.
The letter highlights the fire service’s failings on the night of the fire, including that the first fire engine took 14 minutes to arrive, four minutes slower than the service’s county-wide 10 minute response time target.
Surrey County Council's own Equalities Impact Assessment for the plan, which accounts for the impact of the changes to frontline service on vulnerable residents, states that the first fire engine should arrive at incidents in Banstead in under 8 minutes.
Two fire engines had to be brought in from London to assist the service’s response to the fire, while three frontline firefighters were unable to provide support from Epsom Fire Station as there were not enough firefighters to crew a fire engine, which requires a minimum of four firefighters.
In January, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service pushed ahead with the second phase of cuts under the Making Surrey Safer plan, which saw three fire engines cut and three fire stations closed at night.
One of the stations that was closed was Banstead Fire Station, which was only four minutes away from the location of the incident.
This follows cuts made in April last year, where four fire engines were removed from the service.
Firefighters have accused the fire service of a “pattern of failures” since the cuts, pointing towards an incident at Egham in the early hours of 16 February which saw the first fire engine arrive in 12 minutes. The closest fire station, Egham Fire Station, was also closed at night in January’s round of cuts.
A fire at an apartment block in Esher in June last year saw crews waiting over 57 minutes for a high-reaching aerial fire appliance, while it took 12 minutes for the first fire engine to arrive at the scene.
Firefighters in the county say the responses to the fires highlight the ‘growing public safety risk’ with the service now ‘unable to guarantee an effective emergency response’.
Joe Weir, South East FBU regional secretary, said:
“The fire at Banstead was a devastating incident and firefighters’ thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends of the woman who lost her life.
“But this tragedy may have been avoidable, had the emergency response been quicker on the night. Sadly, thanks to repeated rounds of cuts, voted through by Surrey councillors and drawn up by the local fire chief, the service is spread too thinly across the county.
“At serious incidents every second can count, and Surrey Fire and Rescue Service have serious questions to answer as to why it took so long for the first engine to arrive – and why this level of response has become more commonplace.
“We warned that lives and public safety would be at serious risk if the cuts went ahead, but councillors and fire service managers chose to ignore firefighters’ and residents’ concerns.
“Now they must acknowledge that cutting frontline emergency response does not keep people safe, reverse the cuts and properly invest in our fire service to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again.”
