January 13, 2012 3.13 pm This story is over 145 months old

Plans for seven more 24-hour fire stations in Lincolnshire

Faster response: Seven extra 24-hour fire stations are proposed across Lincolnshire in order to improve response times.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue wants to cut emergency response times across the county by introducing seven extra 24-hour fire stations.

New proposals out for consultation would see 24-hour stations crewed by specialist firefighters in Boston, Gainsborough, Grantham, Louth, Skegness, Sleaford and Spalding.

24-hour cover is now provided only at Lincoln South and Lincoln North, and the extra stations would also improve response time in the city after 6pm.

The number of times that a full-time crew is one of the first on the scene of an emergency is expected to almost double as a result.

This would mean less reliance on retained officers, who work on-call.

The current duty system provides full-time firefighters between 7.30am and 6pm at Boston, Gainsborough, Grantham, and Skegness stations.

Dave Ramscar, chief fire officer, said: “By re-distributing our staff and changing how they operate we can increase the number of fire stations with full-time crews from two to nine.

“This means that we will be a more resilient service, with a better capacity to respond to emergencies,” Ramscar explained.

The plans also include decommissioning a redundant vehicle, saving around half a million pounds.

The hydraulic platform based in Skegness would be withdrawn from service, leaving the county with two of these appliances based in Lincoln and Boston.

The service’s priorities for 2012/2013 include cutting the number of deaths and injuries from fires and road accidents, as well as reducing arson.

“Our work to assess the risks faced by people in Lincolnshire has proved to us that we can effectively do our duty with two hydraulic platforms, rather than three,” Ramscar explained.

“Locating them in Lincoln and Boston will ensure that we are still able to meet our existing response time targets wherever there is a high-rise building in the county.”

Source: Lincolnshire County Council | Photo: Samantha Fisher for The Lincolnite