Seven life saving appliances off the run at night

At night fire engines at Guildford, Woking, Spelthorne, Egham, Painshill, Camberley and Banstead will be sat idle without crews. For a house fire, needing firefighters with breathing apparatus, residents in these areas will be reliant upon fire engines coming in from other areas of Surrey. Night time is precisely the time when the most serious fires occur, when approximately 75% of all fire deaths occur, according to Home Office Statistics. Directly quoted in the Equality Impact Assessment, it states; “Where response times are increased, there is potential for a negative impact on all areas of the community, as at times of emergency the public will have to wait longer for a fire appliance than the current response. There is evidence to suggest that the people most vulnerable to these outcomes are disproportionately likely to come from certain protected characteristics, the elderly and people with disabilities in particular”. Surrey County Council are aware that these plans are likely to have the greatest detrimental impact on the safety of some of the most vulnerable groups of people across Surrey, yet they plan to implement these cuts to night cover nevertheless.