Kenilworth locals have come out against plans which could turn the town's fire station into a "garage where fire engines are parked".

Residents were last week invited to a public information event to find out about Warwickshire County Council's resource to risk proposals which could get rid of the current on-call system in favour of more fixed shifts to meet demand. 

The plans would see Kenilworth Fire Station become a so-called 'surge station' where on-call personnel would be brought in for anticipated or emergency peaks in demand supplementing a better level of overall service.

The council says the new set up would boost the number of full time firefighters working during peak hours.

But locals - who are currently being consulted - have raised concerns about the plans.

Posters around Kenilworth calling for support against the plans (image by James Smith)

"To say this is not about the closure of Kenilworth Fire Station is an insult to the intelligence of everyone in this room," said one resident at last week's public meeting. 

"You say, 'no it's about changing working patterns', well yes it is about changing working patterns. 

"It's about going from a working pattern where firefighters work out of Kenilworth Fire Station to a working pattern where firefighters don't work out of Kenilworth Fire Station. 

"When you say there will be a surge team, that you predict would be used four times every five years, you're saying we will go from having a station which was called out 157 times last year, to a garage where fire engines are parked, and might get used once a year. 

"But that somehow doesn't count as closure."

Town Council Comments

Councillors at Kenilworth Town Council have also come out against the plans.

Cllr Alison Insley, a former on-call firefighter, said last year she thinks the plans are "the wrong way forward", insisting the new set-up could increase response times.

"I wonder whether we should, as a town council, write to the people at the county council who are making the decisions to say that we have heard the proposals and we are concerned about the reduction in service based in Kenilworth," added Cllr Kate Dickson.

While Cllr David Bailey said: "How do you reconcile this with the number of properties being built, the number of residents; those are all increased potential risks.

"I struggle to reconcile this."

Fire Chief's Say

But Warwickshire's chief fire officer Ben Brook insisted at the end of last year the plans - that will worsen response times for some areas - "will save more lives" across the board.

"It is about putting the right resources in the right places at the right times," said Mr Brook to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We cannot provide the same level of cover across the whole of Warwickshire with the resources we have so we are looking to put them where they are going to make the biggest difference.

"That means there isn't the same level of fire cover across the county. Where we have the most incidents involving life and property is where we will put the heaviest density of resources, where there is the least there will be less resources but still an appropriate response.

"We are being very open and transparent with our communities, right now we know they don't get a 10-minute response time, we don't achieve it."

Chief fire officer Ben Brook says the proposed changes to Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service will improve performance (image via WCC)

Mr Brook also acknowledged that surge stations would lie dormant outside peaks in demand but said that is the case now at times when on-call availability is low. 

"We will guarantee a (surge) station having a fire engine with all the equipment," he added.

"The maximum time it will take us to get that appliance operational is two hours – and that's all the time, 24-7.

"That is a stronger guarantee to our public. That fire station is not available 60 per cent of the time now and I cannot bring people in.

"It might be available within 10 minutes, it could be immediate, but the fire station is open and the equipment is there to roll out in the event of a surge incident."

See the full consultation here.