Fire Engines Photos

The way things are going, this will not be manned at all if the station down grades to a 2 pump W/T station.Also, lets not forget the brigade are on about taking the 2nd pumps away and down grading Storrington, Midhurst and Petworth.
When will it all end I wonder, and how many more will go?.

Added by Pete Matten on 20 March 2015.

I think austerity is destroying our fire services, Pete.

At a push, it's possible to stomach the closing of libraries, leisure centres and such like, but butchering our emergency services, I think makes us all feel that little bit unloved and somehow expendable. Take my local brigade, Staffordshire, for instance. Plans are being mooted to remove pumps at the two-pump stations at Burton-upon-Trent, Rugeley, Lichfield and Stone. Stafford may end up only operating its one-and-only pump during the day, and fire calls at night will be answered by the retained station at Rising Brook. What?!! And there are further plans to close the brand new - yes, brand new - stations at Kidsgrove and Tamworth Mercia, both one-pump retained. Only four years ago, Burton was three pumps and Kidsgrove, two. The level of cuts our brigades are expected to make is a disgrace.

Look at Derbyshire. Having only recently rebuilt two of the three wholetime stations that serve the city of Derby, they're now looking to replace ALL THREE stations with one "super station" in the city centre. When indeed will it all end? And if the country does ever manage to get back on its feet, will we get all the disbanded machines and firefighters back? I doubt that very much.

The price of chips always rises when the price of potatoes goes up, but curiously, they never go back down when the price of spuds falls!!!

Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 20 March 2015.

Not talking about it Pete it's happening, April 1st. 5 WrLs going in total. This appliance is being re allocated to Youth initiatives.

Added by Stuart Purves on 21 March 2015.

I forgot to include Burslem in my previous post about the proposed massacre of Staffs Fire & Rescue. The brand-new station at Burslem could be closed too. Or the regular pump might be replaced with a light pump.

But I have just read of another proposal being considered by Stafforsdhire, and this one chills me to the marrow!

The current 33 stations and 42 pumps could be reduced to 15 stations and 15 pumps. The 15 surviving stations would all become wholetime staffed. So the welfare of all of Staffordshire's residents would depend on crews arriving from the strategically positioned stations at Burslem, Cheadle, Cannock, Leek, Lichfield, Barton-under-Needwood, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Longton, Penkridge, Rising Brook (Stafford), Sandyford, Burton-upon-Trent, Wombourne and Tamworth. Yikes.

The eighteen stations shortlisted for the chop are Biddulph, Longnor, Tutbury, Ipstones, Abbotts Bromley, Eccleshall, Gnosall, Codsall, Brewood, Stafford, Kidsgrove, Tamworth Mercia, Chase Terrace, Kinver, Hanley, Loggerheads and Rugeley - many of which have only just been built or are currently in-build!

I am well aware that, as of yet, these are only proposals, but to even consider them is utter madness. A word of advice: if you live in Staffordshire, don't have a fire or a crash!

Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 23 March 2015.

I fear there are some on here who still feel that retained are not able to to go to a fire on their own, up here in the north of scotland it is all we have and guess what, we manage fine, and we get real fires and very very real rtc's. I agree its a disgrace stations are being closed , no matter who crews them but dont use it to have a poke at our retained brothers , I am retired and was wholetime /retained for over thirty years so I know what is what

Added by Donny Maclean on 27 March 2015.

looks weird with tiny wheels and tall cab and disjointed paint scheme , not a nice looking appliance by any means

Added by Alan Ramsay on 29 March 2015.

Well It happend as of the 1st of April West Sussex made the following changes. Removal of the second apllances from Midhurst, Petworth & Storrington. The Disbanding of the retained section at Crawley.Removal of the second WT appliance from Horsham transfering it to Littlehampton and upgrading that station to Shift.

Added by Jon on 01 May 2015.

i feel disbanding is the wrong word to describe the loss of the retained pump at the station you are reffering to , made redundant is the proper description , once again the whole time are disrespecting retained firefighters , when will this stop , it is uncalled for , where I live they are all we have and they are proffesional , prompt and helpfull , I know I had a rrof fire and they save half the house and loft and for that I was so gratefull , my father was retained for 29 years , i know what was put into the job and when he left he was station officer , the station was very busy he was out most nights and days , he died last year at 66 years old , suffering from arthritis in his back and knees , he also had lung issues , what does it take.....

Added by Anne Fotheringham on 01 May 2015.

Having read these comments I have to agree West Sussex Fire & Rescue has now reduced by twelve pumping appliances since these cuts started, if this government is re elected I shudder to think where it is all going to end, shame on them all but as always where these cutbacks could be made are left alone (i.e looking after the wealthy at the expense of the poor we should be proud of our brigades rescue services as the crews, appliances, are one of the best standards in the world steadily being built up since the last war the whole country is set to go back to Dickensian days is it the fire services fault the country is nearly bust no! the banks and financial institutions are to blame mismanaged etc need I go on all of course while the greedy enjoy fat wage rises. Dennis Fire Engines should never have gone to the wall nothing handles like a Dennis Fire Engine and never will another british institution gone and foreign chassis being introduced all so very sad. Ask any member of the public what they would see when peering through a set of fire station doors they will say a Dennis! now one will have say nothing! but an empty space and once these standards men appliances are removed please remember they won't ever come back it will just mean these precious funds will be spent or wasted on something else.

Added by BOB CARVER on 05 May 2015.

Certainly grieves me that there is no British Commercial Vehicle industry left and taxpayers via the government spend billions buying trucks from abroad. Keeping German and Scandinavian factory workers very busy.
But with the decrease in fire calls are not some cut backs unavoidable?

Added by Craigw on 06 May 2015.

Thanks to the severe cuts to West Sussex F&RS, Gatwick Airport, is now THE ONLY major airport in Europe that, in the event of an aircraft emergency, no longer has the attendance of a dedicated rescue vehicle, or is guaranteed the attendance of an aerial appliance in time to make a telling contribution to any rescue. And this is an airport that accommodates two or three huge double-decker Airbus A380s every day! And as required by civil aviation law, an aerial appliance has to be stationed at the airport or mighty close to allow these flights to take place at all. And yet, because of jump-crewing, and other reorganisation, Worthing's ALP is now regularly the only aerial within the county on-the-run. And I know, if I was trying to escape a burning super jumbo somewhere in West Sussex, Worthing would not be close enough. It's 35 miles!

It doesn't stop there: The two nearest engines to Gatwick (two minutes away) were removed in the last round of cuts, next nearest station, Crawley, have had had their pumps reduced from three to two, the county's PDA of pumps to attend any given major response has been reduced from ten to six, major response crewing levels have been cut from around ninety to fifty, and the airport's nearest foam supplies have also been removed, meaning the nearest supply now is fifty miles away and took one-and-a half hours to arrive when recently called upon. I, for one, would not want to fly to or from Gatwick in the current climate. It is the busiest single runway airport in the world, and sadly, as highlighted in a recent report by a retired fire service operational planning officer, because of the local authority cuts, is one of the most dangerous airports in the world to have an emergency.

I know we shouldn't really get all political on a site like this (but Bob started it!), let's never forget the people that almost bankrupted this wonderful nation of ours. And why we are in such austere times. And, aptly, on the eve of the general election, I find it unbelievable that the inept lot that got us in this mess are all smirking at us, laughing at us, yet betrayed by guilty eyes. Making sugar-coated promises that the laws of economics will never allow. And displaying absolutely no contrition whatsoever. Never mind campaigning; they should have been lined up against the wall...

From an early age my parents drummed it into me that you should never live beyond your means. This country did exactly that for a good ten years before the current government came to power, and long before the consequences of such mismanagement began to bite. Those that voted for them, and, unbelievably, continue to vote for them, must take some of the blame. Or at least stop blaming those trying to sort it out. We're lucky we've got any fire service at all.

Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 06 May 2015.

What's wrong with leyland daf and Dennis eagle being used as appliance chassis both successfully British truck or local authority chassis why do we not use these?

Added by Alan Ramsay on 08 May 2015.

I have been in the fbu for 31 years , I have been through strikes and strife and voted labour all that time apart from the last two , I couldnt vote for a party that wrecks the economy every time they get in , I am afraid to say I voted tory but as yelp bullhorn states they lived beyond the countries means and denied or blamed everyone else for the huge mess they left , never again , look through history ................

Added by Abe on 12 May 2015.

Leyland DAF are now just DAF and only make (or assemble) the 7.5 tonner in UK . DAF have never been that popular as fire chassis don't know why. Have heard Scania and Volvo sell fire chassis at a good discount for the publicity .
Dennis Eagle just concentrate on the Municipal market AFAIK. Probably not a big enough market for fire chassis to justify all the changes required?

Added by Craigw on 13 May 2015.

Craig , leyland trucks are a paccar company and make and assemble all right hand drive DAF trucks at the leyland plant , they make all of the LF range up to 21 tonnes in right and left hand drive and assemble the CF and XF ranges for home and abroad in right hand drive markets , they have had some success in this country with type b water tenders in lancs for instance who only buy the LF and the odd one or two elsewhere , they share the cab with Volvo/Renault and I cannot see why they are not more succesfull other than the badge snobbery that exists in this country where only continental cars/trucks are worth bothering about and of course the cut prices offered by some manufacturers , scania for instance were giving them away to get the market and that ended dennis , as for Dennis eagle they are a big concern and indeed made the cabs for dennis so I think the company have seen what happened to Dennis and decided it didnt warrant the cost of developement , saying that they already have power take offs so it wouldnt be that hard butt unlikely ever to happen , hope this answers the question.

Added by John Anderson on 13 May 2015.

John -Wonder if the fact that the Daf plant is in Lancs affects Lancs buying decision ! Anyway fair play to them if it does , buy er British .Sounds like DAF do a little more in UK than I thought but no getting away from the fact that our CV industry is a faint shadow of its former self, amazing when in 1969 Britain was the worlds biggest truck exporter.

It's not that long ago when every single vehicle bought with government money was made in Britain. Remember being shocked in about 1982 when our local Coastguard got issued a Dauhatsu Fourtrak instead of a Land Rover.

Added by Craigw on 14 May 2015.

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