West Sussex also relies heavily on Hampshire fire engines for support at incidents in the Bosham, Chichester, East Wittering, Selsey and Midhurst areas.
Not only will all the stations near the West Sussex border lose firefighters, but seven fire engines will be replaced with inferior vehicles.
The vehicles to be provided are:
1. Enhanced Vehicle (EV) - Proper Fire Engine.
2. Intermediate Vehicle (IV) - Small Fire Engine (less water, less equipment, less crew, less effective).
3. First Response Vehicle (FRV) - Inadequate Fire Engine (even less water, equipment, and crew who will often only be able to watch and wait for help, but Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service will shamefully claim that they met their response target).
There will only be two proper fire engines instead of nine on our border. One at Havant and one at Petersfield. There will also be at least 22 fewer part time firefighters at these stations.
The details are:
Emsworth – Fire Engine replaced with a First Response Vehicle
Havant - will lose one Fire Engine to be replaced with a First Response Vehicle.
Horndean - Fire Engine replaced with an Intermediate Vehicle.
Petersfield - will lose one fire engine to be replaced with a First Response Vehicle.
Liphook - Fire Engine replaced with a First Response Vehicle.
Bordon - Fire Engine replaced with an Intermediate Vehicle.
Grayshott - Fire Engine replaced with a First Response Vehicle.
The proposals can be summed up as, if your dustbin catches fire they will send the resources required to deal with it as quickly as now, or perhaps a minute or two quicker.
BUT, if your home or business is on fire, or if you are trapped, they will take much longer than now to get the essential resources to you to save your life and your property .
Saving life is no longer given the priority it was, and should be, by Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service and West Sussex residents will suffer as a result.
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