Campaigners vow to fight new threat to Wrexham’s fire engine

Campaigners say they gearing up to fight once again to retain Wrexham’s second whole-time fire engine as the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority consults on the public on major cuts to the service in north-east Wales.

As we first reported yesterday morning the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority is to soon open a public consultation on the future provision of emergency cover in the region – with one option seeing Wrexham’s third appliance under threat once again – which in practice is the second whole time pump and crews. ‌That would leave the city with one whole time pump and crew, and one retained pump and crew – which is not always available (more).

The consultation, which will start on Friday, will see three options put before residents. Options two and three would mean getting rid of Wrexham’s second whole-time fire engine and the loss of half the firefighters in the city.

Councillor Becca Martin, who represents Acton and Maesydre for Plaid Cymru, said: “Back in 2016-7, a similar cut was proposed for Wrexham’s second whole-time pump and that was defeated by a huge public campaign where we lobbied the fire service, picketed, knocked doors and got thousands to sign a petition. Plaid Cymru organised a 700-strong march through town along with the Fire Brigades Union. The people of Wrexham stood with their firefighters back then and I’m sure they’ll do it again this time.

“The proposals are being driven by a need to save money – 13 years of austerity have left all public services on their knees and the fire service is no exception. The UK Government’s failure to properly fund public services, and most recently to agree pay awards but not provide the funding for them, is forcing these cuts that will have a detrimental impact on the ability to tackle emergencies in the Wrexham area if they’re allowed to go through.

“Wrexham currently has 52 firefighters – two of the three options being proposed here would see that cut to just 28. It would mean that the entire area would be dependent on just one full-time fire engine being available and another crewed by retained staff, who are called in when needed. Unfortunately, maintaining retained crews is becoming more difficult across the fire service due to changes in employment and that second pump is often unavailable.

“That is recognised in the consultation because of problems in staffing retained stations in Gwynedd. In that case, the fire authority is proposing to move to full-time crews to ensure better response times and cover. That seems sensible but what doesn’t work is slashing the cover for Wrexham and surrounding areas. This is an area with a large industrial estate, Europe’s second largest prison, areas of high deprivation and vulnerable people as well as high-rise buildings that need specialist equipment to reach them in an emergency. From speaking to firefighters with experience in these matters, having just one whole-time pump would limit the ability of the fire service locally to respond promptly and effectively to specialist emergencies involving chemicals, road accidents or multiple incidents.

“We’re urging everyone to get involved in the consultation when it starts this Friday. It will be our opportunity to say loud and clear that we stand with our firefighters and want to retain the current level of service. We can’t continue to allow this Government to cut and cut our public services to a situation where they are no longer functioning. North Wales has just 190 firefighters now. One of these proposals would cut one in five of those jobs – is it is possible to deliver a safe service with so few firefighters across such a large area?”

She added: “Plaid Cymru in Wrexham is launching a new petition to let the Fire Authority know that halving the whole-time provision in Wrexham, the North’s capital, is not acceptable to people. We value our fire service and want to see it properly funded so it can deal with the new challenges that it faces in terms of more wildfires, more floods and ensuring it continues the good preventative works that means not one person has died in a house fire in the past year.”