Conservative County Councillors put West Sussex residents in greater danger

Longer waits for less effective response

When your life or property is in danger, you may wonder why help is taking longer to arrive. The simple answer is that firefighters are coming as quickly as possible but are now increasingly likely to be coming from further away.

When they arrive, you may also wonder why they take longer to carry out rescues and firefighting. The answer is that, instead of five or six firefighters on a fire engine, there will now usually be just four. When a minimum of five firefighters are required to safely and effectively deal with most incidents, and building fires need at least nine firefighters, more time is lost waiting for back up crews from fire stations even further away.  

None of this is the fault of firefighters, so who is to blame?

The answer is simple, Conservative County Councillors.

Population and incidents up, resources down

Since 1975, the County’s population has increased by nearly 40%, and the fire & rescue service is attending over 50% more incidents each year. Yet the Conservatives have made significant cuts to our fire & rescue service, leaving it slower and less effective. They went ahead with cuts even though their modelling said there would be increased loss of life and increased property damage as a result.

Since 2010, the Conservatives have:

Closed 4 fire stations

Cut a quarter of frontline fire engines &

now provide 231 fewer firefighters (a third less)

 Inadequate crewing can see up to three quarters of frontline fire engines unavailable

You may feel reassured when you see a fire engine in your nearest fire station, but it is useless without firefighters. Too often, when you need help, it will sit idle in the fire station because Conservative County Councillors don’t ensure there are enough firefighters available to crew it.

There are now only 35 frontline fire engines in West Sussex, there were 46, and during the day up to two thirds may not be available. At night, three quarters of the County’s fire engines depend on retained (on call) firefighters who are not always available.

Assets worth up to £10 million can sit idle during emergencies for lack of firefighters

Specialist rescue only available during the day

The Conservatives have also stopped providing 24 hour availability of the Technical Rescue Unit. This specialist team have additional training to carry out rescues from the most extreme situations, but they are now only available from 7 am to 7 pm. Conservative County Councillors will tell you that neighbouring fire & rescue services will come to your aid at night, but they don’t specify how far they will need to travel and how much longer your life will be in danger.

Conservatives are neglecting those in extreme danger at night

Who to vote for on May 7th

It is important not to be distracted by national government performance and national issues, as the only election that matters for anyone concerned about having an effective fire & rescue service is the County Council election. In my experience, how politicians have performed is usually a good indication of how they will perform in future. 

So, it will be no surprise that I think the Conservatives have failed the residents of West Sussex, so who has not?

Both Labour and Liberal Democrat County Councillors have campaigned to stop the Conservative fire & rescue service cuts and have worked hard to highlight the disastrous consequences of those cuts. Sadly, the response from the Conservatives has simply been to withhold information, including unlawful refusals of freedom of information requests, to cut performance standards to hide the consequences of their cuts and mismanagement, and to make false claims. Cuts are not 'improvements'.

Only Labour & Liberal Democrat County Councillors have campaigned to save our fire & rescue service and to support our firefighters

Latest figures show continuing County Council failure to protect West Sussex residents

More fire engines with no firefighters to crew them 

Someone recently asked for information on the availability of all retained (on-call) crewed fire engines. The data provided, in response to their freedom of information request, confirms that West Sussex County Council is seriously failing to crew fire engines properly.

In 2025, nearly 70% were unavailable more often than they were available. 

One was only available for the equivalent of 48 days!

The image illustrates shocking and inadequate availability

The exact availability figures released are shown on the left

In their continuing obsession with secrecy, they don't say which fire stations are affected. They also failed to provide data for the four fire engines that are crewed by on-call firefighters at night (Wholetime firefighters crew one fire engine at Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath, and Shoreham, but only from 7 am to 7 pm).

Conservative spin

So what has the County Council done to improve this dire situation? In his report to this Friday's County Council meeting, Cabinet Member Duncan Crow says nothing about fixing the problems. He just claims that the new Community Risk Management Plan 2026 - 2030 will build on the "success" of the previous CRMP 2022 - 2026. 

That "success" is availability that is 10% worse now than in 2022! 

The "success" is also longer response times and extended target times, which are intended to hide the deteriorating situation from the public. This is not a plan to fix any problems, just a wish list that lacks sufficient funding to achieve any improvements. 

Conservative Failure

It is important to remember that the fundamental failure does not rest with those in the fire & rescue service, but with those in charge at West Sussex County Council - Conservative County Councillors. I acknowledge that before 2010, the service they provided could be considered adequate, but since then it has been a sad story of continuing decline, failure, and cover up.

Not only have they closed fire stations, and cut a quarter of frontline fire engines since 2010, there are now 228 fewer firefighters (full time equivalent) to protect West Sussex residents. Add in the County Council's increasing failure to crew the remaining fire engines, and it is inevitable that response times are getting worse, especially in rural areas. 

The only County Councillors who have consistently stood up for residents and the fire & rescue service have been Labour and Liberal Democrat County Councillors. 

With strong public support, the Labour and Liberal Democrat Councillors have made strenuous efforts to oppose cuts and to expose the council's failing management of the service. Yet the Conservatives just ignore genuine concerns about the increased risk to lives and property, and arrogantly continue failing to provide an effective fire & rescue service.

With May elections restored, the public will now have an opportunity to choose who they want to run their fire and rescue service for at least the next two years. 

Choose wisely on May 7th

Why the Conservatives cannot be trusted with our Fire & Rescue Service

Key changes between 1974 and 2024

West Sussex was enlarged in 1974 and for the next 35 years the Conservative’s management of the fire & rescue service could be considered adequate. However, during the last 14 years this has deteriorated dramatically and worryingly it is continuing to deteriorate.

Misleading information and false claims

With County Council elections next year it is important that misleading information and false claims from the Council's Conservative leadership are exposed. At a recent meeting, Cabinet Member Duncan Crow claimed that they had increased the number of firefighters. Home Office figures show that is not true, they have been reduced significantly.

Duncan Crow is also fond of claiming that fire deaths have fallen as a result of prevention work. That is untrue. The number of fire deaths fluctuates year by year, so more than one year has to be examined to get a true indication of changes.

Unfortunately for Councillor Crow, the most recent five year average shows a worrying increase in fire deaths compared to the five year average before the County Council began their cuts to frontline fire crews.

The Conservatives cannot be trusted to run our Fire & Rescue Service