HEREFORD and Worcester fire authority have supported the proposals developed in a review of its resources.
The plans aim to ensure HWFRS makes changes needed so its funding is used as efficiently as possible.
The outcome of the review will mean the removal of seven on-call fire engines (from fire stations with more than one fire engine), that have attended a low number of incidents and have low levels of average availability, due to challenges in recruiting firefighters.
There will be no reduction to the first fire engines at the 25 fire station locations – some first fire engines should have better availability, larger crew sizes, and become more resilient.
The authority says the changes are not cuts, but the money will be reinvested into staffing and crewing of the 34 engines by employing full-time firefighters.
HWFRS says this reinvestment of public money ensures the efficient use of resources and funding as well as providing assurance to the community.
