Firefighter warns proposed Warwickshire fire service cuts 'is massive concern to Banbury residents'

Earlier this year, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service said it needed to restructure in order to have crews cover the areas where more incidents happen.

The changes were proposed by the service because it says it is struggling to recruit the correct number of on-call fire crews needed to cover the area.

Among the proposed changes is the removal of on-call firefighters at certain stations. Some stations will now become fully operational during daytime hours, while others will be closed during the day but maintain on-call crews during the night.

Others, such as Gaydon, Fenny Compton and Shipston-on-Stour will become resilience stations, meaning they will only be operational as a short-term resource during major incidents or weather incidents like flooding or fires.

Firefighter of 39 years and Banbury resident, Darran Gough, says that if Warwickshire County Council approves the decision at next month’s (July 16) cabinet meeting, it could cause a major safety concern to north Oxfordshire residents.

Darran, who now works for the West Midlands Fire Service and is also chairman of the West Midlands Fire Officers Association union, believes that the cuts to services in Warwickshire will lead to Oxfordshire fire crews being called across the county border, resulting in a stretched service in the Banbury region.

He said: “In the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service proposal, they refer to Gaydon, Fenny Compton and Shipston-on-Stour as resilience stations, which is a nice way of saying they will be used as garages.

"The stations are not being closed but will have up to two hours to get a crew together, which bearing in mind that people can die in less than five minutes in fires, is a concern!

"This could have massive implications for south Warwickshire, but it is also a massive concern to Banbury and north Oxfordshire residents because, under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, every fire service has a legal responsibility to provide mutual assistance to its neighbouring services.

"So, if they now have a massive gap in south Warwickshire, the nearest stations will be Southam or Wellesbourne; they will definitely be calling on Oxfordshire to go and cover Warwickshire in an emergency, pulling potentially two appliances from Banbury and one from Hook Norton, Chipping Norton and Deddington.”

Darran believes this will put Oxfordshire residents' fire cover and safety at risk, as many of the area's fire engines and crews could be regularly called to respond to incidents across the county border and not available at home.

He said: “I’m a serving firefighter, but I’m also a Banbury resident and it's a concern to me. They cannot put this through because of the knock-on effect on Oxfordshire; this could have really serious consequences.”

In response to the claims, a spokesperson for Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Resourcing to Risk is an operational model that seeks to best position the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service resources to make the biggest difference to the communities we serve. From December 2023 to March 2024, we received c.1,300 responses to a public consultation on an initial proposal, and we also listened to the views of staff, partners and representative bodies.

“This feedback has been invaluable in shaping a revised proposal which was discussed at Warwickshire County Council’s Resources and Fire and Rescue Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday 26 June, and will now go forward to Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet for decision on Tuesday 16 July.

“Please note that having already gathered feedback from our staff and communities as part of the previous public consultation, we will not be asking for additional feedback on the new proposal. However, we will continue to engage with and support all our staff as needed through any agreed change.”

At present, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service has 17 stations, nine operating which operate on-call only, meaning a firefighter will get to the station within five minutes. These include Fenny Compton and Shipston-on-Stour.

Other stations are manned full-time, while two stations, including Gaydon are crewed by full-time members of staff during the daytime hours only.

The proposed changes would cost the council an extra £500,000 a year, and £600,000 will be required to modify some station facilities to enable 24/7 working.

There are currently 25 fire stations in Oxfordshire. Banbury operates as a round-the-clock crewed and on-call fire station, whereas Chipping Norton, Deddington and Hook Norton only operate as on-call stations and are not manned full-time.

The Banbury Guardian has appoached Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service for comment.

View Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service’s full proposal here.