£1.6 million budget cuts proposed to West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service has announced draft proposals for 2015/16 which say they aim to improve the service it offers across the county while managing resources within a reduced budget.

By The Newsroom

Published 8th May 2014, 18:20 BST

However, a spokesman for the Fire Brigades Union has concerns about the impact of the £1.6 million cuts.

The proposal plans to keep all fire stations open, but change the way fire engines are crewed, introduce new shift patterns and reduce the overall number of staff, including firefighters.

It intends to keep the same number of immediate response fire engines, but move one from a temporary base to a permanent location and remove some second engines, and one third engine.

The plan is to support WSFRS with the prevention work it carries out, working closely with communities, professional partners and those most at risk.

Finally it intends to enhance resilience and existing community safety work with additional resources from a new Crewing Optimisation Group, as well as specialists to deal with severe weather events.

More information in this week’s Mid Sussex Times (May 15).