00:00like to retain the current arrangement and just like that four fire stations are off the chopping
00:07block the proposed closures alongside other streamlining measures from kent fire and rescue
00:14would have reduced the number of part-time on-call firefighters who usually work evenings and
00:21weekends but for councillors who sit on the fire authority safety fears trumped putting those plans
00:29out for public consultation i think we all recognize fiscal prudence but we do realize that this measure
00:38here is really putting the lives of our residents at risk you know we need to find a financial
00:43sustainable solution we need to find the solution to make sure the right firefighters are in the right
00:48place but i think trying to deal that all at once i say was too much the cuts and closures
00:53were
00:53designed to address a 1.3 million pound grant funding shortfall during a time of rising costs
01:01the on-call station in y was one of those earmarked for closure feeling in the rural village had been
01:08mixed because there's a vital service for the local community and there's not another one for quite a
01:15few miles they don't have enough volunteers to man it anyway we had a big fire over in the field
01:20the
01:20other week and they didn't even go out kent fire and rescue had hoped reductions from on-call services
01:28would have allowed it to divert resources to responding to emergencies in the daytime where
01:35demand is highest but the plans were controversial from the get-go hundreds attended protests organized
01:43by the fire brigade union who had warned of dozens of job losses we believe that this is a
01:50central government funding issue uh the service has been putting in an impossible decision where
01:54they're trying to uh increase fire obviously covering a day without the funding the fire authority like
02:00any local authority still needs to find a way of balancing its books difficult decisions could still
02:06be ahead i mean we'll always make sure that people are safe it might it's going to be a bit
02:10harder to
02:11do that now but we will always make sure that people are safe so we're just going to have to
02:14find
02:14different ideas just different ways uh it makes it a lot harder to going out to date to the public
02:19and
02:19asking them for their other ideas and we already had some really interesting conversations going
02:23so it's disappointing but yes of course we're going to keep people safe the fire authority may
02:28have seen off closures and staffing changes for now but financial pressures facing the service here
02:35in kent aren't going anywhere and it doesn't have a lot left to slash or burn ollie leader in maidstone
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