Conservatives' New Fire Station Missing Essentials

LDWC

by Liberal Democrats Windsor Constituency

26 Apr 2013

Julian Tisi is continuing the Lib Dems four year campaign to Save Windsor Fire Station — Windsor's current fire station is fully equipped and has its own dedicated fire crews with local knowledge.

A freedom of information request, submitted by Windsor Liberal Democrats' has revealed the lack of facilities at the Royal Borough's proposed new fire station at the council's Tinkers Lane Depot. The building, which will cost around £400,000, (2) will be a modular structure, served by a fire engine based in Slough and will be missing many of the essentials required to operate as a proper fire station.

Under the Royal Borough Conservatives' plan, the crew of the "Windsor" fire engine will be based at Slough fire station, and will drive to Windsor in the fire engine at the start of each shift. The Windsor Fire Engine will have to return to Slough to refuel, recharge breathing apparatus and conduct training with hoses and ladders. It is unclear for how many years the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority have guaranteed to provide the fire engine.

The changes planned by Royal Borough Conservatives as part of their, "saving 24 hour fire cover," will actually see Windsor's fire crews disbanded (4). The Windsor Fire Appliance will be crewed on an ad-hoc basis using spare fire fighters from Slough Fire Station.

When the Liberal Democrats last ran the Royal Borough there were 29 fire-fighters based in Windsor, in a proper fire station, providing 24 hour fire cover and plans to shut Windsor fire station were quickly stopped.(1)

**Details of Facilities at the Two Fire Stations Compared** (3)
Facility	Current St. Mark's Road Fire Station	Proposed Tinker's Lane Fire Station
Building	Permanent Structure in central Windsor	Modular Structure in west of Windsor
Fire Engine	Full size appliance based at Windsor Fire Station	Full size appliance based at Slough Fire Station
Fire-fighters (Day)	14 wholetime based at Windsor Fire Station	Ad-hoc crews drawn from Slough Fire Station
Fire-fighters (Night)	Ad-hoc crews drawn from Slough & across Berkshire	Ad-hoc crews drawn from Slough Fire Station
Watch Room	Yes	Yes
Station Office	Yes	No
Training Room (Computer / paper based)	Yes	Yes
Breathing Apparatus Service Area	Yes	No
Breathing Apparatus Gas Supplies	Yes	No
Store Room	Yes	Yes
Drying Room	Yes	No
Locker Room	Yes	No - locker area
Kitchen	Yes	No - small Kitchen area
Dormitory / Lecture Room	Yes	Yes
Dormitory	Provision for 8 fire-fighters	Provision for 4 fire-fighters
Gym	Yes	No
Internal Vehicle Bays	Provision for 3 vehicles	Provision for 1 vehicle
Training Tower (essential for training)	Yes	No
Water Pit (essential for training)	Yes	No
Call Out Communications System	Yes	Yes
Refuelling Facilities	Yes	No

Sources

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