Another full-time fire crew planned for Newbury

The new action plan (the Integrated Risk Management Plan) for the year 2013 to 2014 includes proposals for a second full-time crew at Newbury fire station and a plan to build a new station in the east of the district, in Theale.
At Newbury fire station there is currently one full-time crew, which works shift duty patterns to keep the station manned and one retained (part-time) crew which is on call, as and when needed.
The additional full-time Newbury fire crew is being considered because of current European legislation that places a cap on working hours (retained staff usually have full-time jobs as well as being retained firefighters) and owing to the current problems with recruiting and keeping retained firefighters, who come from the community and need to be within three minutes of the fire station.
Assistant chief fire officer Paul Southern said that this idea was being put forward as a proposal, rather than having to rely on the availability of a retained crew.
He said: “This will improve the current level of service that there is at the moment and alleviate the problem.”
The firefighter posts will be transferred from Windsor fire station, which is having 14 posts axed.
As additional firefighters will be required to crew the second fire engine at Newbury, £198,000 will be used from the current underspend in the retained firefighter budget to fund the posts.
West Berkshire Council fire authority member, Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West), said that the plans put in place could only be a good thing for the people of West Berkshire.
He said: “There will be more manpower in Newbury to cover the Newbury area.
“People are not going to have to wait for the second crew to come running in.”
Another part of the 2013/2014 plan is to build a new fire station in Theale.
The current building at Dee Road has been deemed in a poor state, with only about 10 to 12 years life in it.
Therefore, rather than pay maintenance costs of the Dee Road building for the next 10 years, the service was advised to build the new fire station now.
This, Mr Southern said, would have more economical value and be more environmentally friendly.
Tests have also shown that a fire station in Theale would be a more optimum location as well, he added.
It was anticipated that once the new location was found, the new fire station should be completed by April 2014.
Mr Brooks added: “These proposals are clearly costed and we look forward to them happening.
“There will be a very big up side for the people of West Berkshire; it’s very good news."