Didcot and Abingdon to lose full-time firefighters (From The Oxford Times)

Didcot and Abingdon to lose full-time firefighters

7:34pm Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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COUNTY bosses tonight approved controversial changes that will remove four full-time firefighters from Didcot and Abingdon.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet voted unanimously to relocate the firefighters to other stations, covering up shortfalls in crews firemen which leaves much of the county unprotected every week.

About 3,000 people, as well as Abingdon and Didcot town councils, objected to the proposals, following a Fire Brigades Union (FBU) campaign warning lives could be put at risk as a result of slower response times there.

Managers said based on the average time it takes for retained staff to get to the station, weekend response times to blazes would be three minutes three seconds longer in Abingdon, and three minutes 37 seconds longer in Didcot.

FBU chairman Steve Allen said during the 12-week public consultation there had been several incidents where members of the public could have died if fire engines had been delayed.

But deputy chief fire officer Dave Etheridge said moving the firefighters elsewhere in the county would cut by 15 per cent the 20,000 hours this year during which towns and villages in Oxfordshire had no local fire cover because of difficulties in recruiting retained firefighters.

He told councillors that yesterday, Bampton, Henley and Woodstock were all without local crews.

He said: “Those communities are at risk.”