A DECISION to reduce Tavistock’s daytime fire cover by half has been labelled as ‘dangerous’ by a former fire station officer.

Last Friday (January 10) Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Fire Service approved recommendations on how the service would operate in the future — which included fire station closures and the reduction of fire engines across the two counties.

Tavistock’s Fire Station will be directly affected and reduced to one fire engine (appliance) during the day to cover 300sq kilometres, including parts of Dartmoor. Night-time will be unchanged and will stay at capacity with two appliances.

Last summer, the service announced it was to make significant changes in order to try and save £8.4-million from its budget and to improve the ‘efficiency and effectiveness of the service’. The decision was finalised by the fire authority at its headquarters in Exeter.

The changes will be implemented immediately but have been met with disapproval and disappointment by firefighters, local dignitaries and residents.

Former Tavistock firefighter of 42 years, Tim Smith, spoke to the Times soon after the announcement and said that the reduction of daytime cover in the town would ‘end in tragedy’.

‘I know for a fact that this will put our firefighters’ lives at risk.

‘Tavistock has a lot of people in the town during the day and by the end of the year there will be double the amount of people with all the new houses being built. I know what’s going to happen — this will end in tragedy.’

With the removal of Tavistock’s second appliance, and in other areas including Okehampton, Totnes and Crediton, the service will introduce variable fire engine availability dependent on risk.

The ‘risk-based availability’ will involve whole-time firefighters being made available during the day to move to where the risk is highest in Devon and Somerset.

But Tim, former station commander of 11 years, added that the scheme would not work: ‘There has to be a second appliance in Tavistock. The roving appliance sounds like a good idea on paper but what if they are roving in Okehampton, for example, and we need a second appliance in Tavistock? It will be at least 30 minutes before they get to us — they can’t predict where they are going to have to attend and they will always be in the wrong place each time.

‘I guarantee that someone will lose their life as a direct result of this.’

A senior fire officer at Tavistock Fire Station added that the decision was a ‘disappointment’ but thanked everyone who took the time to voice their opinions: ‘We are hugely disappointed at Tavistock Fire Station by the decision to remove our second fire engine by day, seven-days-a-week. The fire appliance will remain in Tavistock station during the day but will not be used, we do have enough crew. There will be no loss of staff at the moment as we will still need both crews at night.

‘We thank those who have voiced their opinions but unfortunately they have not worked in our favour. This week we have attended two house fires, one in Bere Alston and one in the Dell (Tavistock). Both of our appliances attended both fires and in Bere Alston a third from Yelverton backed us up.’

Cllr Sara Randall Johnson, chair of the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority, said: ‘We had a long and detailed consultation period over the summer during which people made it very clear how much they value the fire service. Although there were difficult conversations at times, I was pleased to hear how strongly the public and staff felt connected to their local fire stations.

‘Members have considered all these proposals at length and have thought very carefully about the impact our decisions may have on the service, staff and the public.

‘These changes will enable the service to move resources to the areas where they are most needed.

‘It is important for people living near one of the affected fire stations to remember that they will continue to receive a response from fire crews in the unlikely event that they need one.’

During the consultation, the service held 27 drop-in sessions — attended by nearly 2,000 people. In total, 3,818 responses were received: 3,232 completed questionnaires, 205 written submissions and 381 email responses. In addition, five petitions were submitted with a total of 43,644 signatures.

Devon county councillor for Tavistock and Gulworthy Debo Sellis said: ‘In view of the population and the known increase in new dwellings, I think this decision is short sighted.

‘It only needs a minor gorse or chimney fire, for example, to remove fire cover from the town for at least 20 to 30 minutes. I am very disappointed that my conversations with members of the fire authority apparently had no sway.’