Fire authority chairman backs The Hunts Post’s SOS campaign

Councillor Fred Brown, voted in as chairman at the last fire authority meeting, said he appreciated the work we were doing to keep the plight of the fire service in the public eye.

The Hunts Post launched the SOS campaign in the wake of the fire authority’s difficult decision to give the green light to more cuts to Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service’s expenditure.

The service has been battling for two years to save money, following the comprehensive spending review. In December this year, Chief Fire Officer Graham Stagg and his senior management team at Hinchingbrooke will discover the full extent of the Government’s funding review.

Cllr Brown said: “I support the campaign – it is doing us good and getting the public’s attention. I fully support it. It’s wonderful and it’s a pity a few other papers don’t do the same. We support what you are doing and I am fully behind it.”

He added: “I think everybody is of the same view. We are one of the only services that stands alone without criticism. The fire service very rarely gets criticised and what we want to do is preserve that relationship with the public and the perception that we are always there. We want to build on that relationship and we need help from the public.

“Hopefully common sense will prevail and we will be left alone. We have been bending over backwards to protect the front line and I believe that we are doing everything we should be.”

He said it had been a collective effort to get the service to this current situation.

“It has not just been the fire authority and senior management team. Everybody has had their shoulder to the post and pushed as hard they could,” he said. “We can only run on the true cost and we are already down to the bone.”