Could cuts to the Fire Service put people at risk?

The fire authority approved the removal of seven fire engines and 45 on-call posts in June and the firefighter, who asked not to be named, said it is already having an effect on coverage.

Chief fire officer Jon Pryce said there were "no real alternatives" when the cuts were announced in June.

The firefighter said: "The cuts were almost immediately, although the changes were not meant to be until April 2025.

"Worcester's third engine was the last one to go, and that was about three weeks ago."

During a house fire in which a man died both remaining engines from Worcester were deployed to the scene in Arboretum, Worcester, on Saturday, July 20. 

A third engine was needed which would have been the on-call engine in Worcester had it not been cut. 

Instead, an engine was called from another station in Worcestershire.

"The third engine was coming from Malvern but had mechanical faults and had to turn back so a fourth engine came from Upton-upon-Severn," the firefighter claims.

"The first two crews at the fire were very stretched as the ambulance also didn't arrive for another ten minutes after the casualty came out."

A spokesperson for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "Two ambulances, two paramedic doctors, the Midlands Air Ambulance and a BASICS doctor attended. The first ambulance arrived in less than four minutes.

"The team of ambulance staff worked together to administer advance life support on scene, but sadly, despite everyone's best efforts, nothing could be done to save the man and he was confirmed dead on scene a short while later."

Read more: Seven fire engines to be cut across Worcestershire and Herefordshire

Read more: Man dies following fire on Southfield Street, Arboretum

With no ambulance and no third engine, the firefighters who were supposed to be monitoring the pumps and the breathing apparatus of the crew inside the building were instead having to give CPR.

"It can be a danger to the people inside the building."

The firefighter doesn't believe it made a difference to the outcome of the fatal fire but has concerns about future incidents.

He said: "It could only be a matter of time before someone dies because of this, but I hope it doesn't come to that."

A map of the deployment of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service vehicles on Wednesday, August 7 (Image: Anonymous)

An image shared by the firefighter showed the availability of fire engines across the two counties on Wednesday (August 7).

“Any callsigns that end in one or two are regular fire engines.

"Pink means they are at an incident, red means they aren't available and white means they can be called out."

“There are only five engines available across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

“Hopefully no one needs the fire service today.”

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service was asked for a comment and replied with the statement from when the cuts were announced.

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It said: "Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority have today supported the proposals developed in the 2024 Resource Review.

"These proposals aim to ensure Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) make the changes needed to ensure we use our funding to be as efficient and effective as we possibly can.

"This reinvestment of public money ensures the efficient use of our resources and funding and provides assurance to the communities we serve that we are continuously looking to provide the best service possible with the resources we have, across Herefordshire and Worcestershire."

Since the article has been printed Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has provided a second response.

The spokesperson said it is not cuts as all the savings, circa £1m, are being reinvested to employ more full-time firefighters who are immediately available on shifts on the busier fire engines and will see more full-time firefighters employed.

 They said fire crews arrived in less than 5 minutes to the house fire and prior to the incident there were another 17 fire engines available across both counties. However, at the same time another two incidents also had fire engines deployed as well as the 17 fire engines still available. 

They also pointed out that data from the Resource Review published clearly shows that prior to the third fire engine removal this fire engine only attended on average 1.14% of all incidents across the entire service area between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2023.

With regards to the availability map, the spokesperson said it was "disingenuous" to suggest there were only a few fire engines available, as it only shows a snapshot in time from Tuesday, August 6 when the Service was responding to a large fire incident in South Herefordshire.

"Therefore despite still having several available fire engines left in Herefordshire, many more fire engines were available that day, but were actually in use at a large fire," they added.

A second article will appear on the Worcester News website soon with more of the fire service's response.