Nottinghamshire fire service proposes cuts of £2.4 million. Warsop and Collingham – small, isolated towns – would lose their retained firefighters, providing crucial cover for nearby villages.
Nottingham City Central, Mansfield, Stockhill and Highfields, would have their fire engines reduced from two to one.
The county would be exposed in serious accidents. Every second counts when an emergency strikes. Lives would be at risk. Phil Coates from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said: “You might not need that fire engine today but tomorrow you might have a house fire with people and children inside and then you do need it. We are stretched as it is and this is pushing us to breaking point.”
Labour
The Fire Authority has a Labour majority, ten out of eighteen councillors, but they are not prepared to fight to put people’s lives ahead of monetary savings.
Even though Nottinghamshire county and city councils who control fire services have enough money in reserves to not make any cuts for eight years.
Socialist Party members are involved in building a campaign, which includes the FBU, to fight these cuts in their entirety.
The Fire Authority planned to make these cuts three years ago but was forced to back down by mass opposition. When people come together and organise, the inhumanity of austerity can be defeated.
So far we have had a tremendous response from people. This shows why we need a new workers’ party which will help forge a world where firefighters don’t have to make decisions such as which emergency is more important.
