By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter
Fire crews in Ashfield are responding to incidents faster on average after their 24-hour cover was reinstated.
Crews in the district now take seven minutes and 24 seconds on average to arrive at the scene of an incident, which is down from eight minutes and 36 seconds previously.
A Nottinghamshire Fire Authority meeting today (October 11) heard this is thanks to Ashfield Fire Station having its full-time fire cover reinstated after years without fully staffed night shifts.
The reinstatement, which came into effect in November last year, reversed a 2018 cut to whole-time cover that saw the station only staffed between 8am and 6pm.
On-call staff worked outside of these hours.
In July 2023, board members supported the Chief Fire Officer’s proposal to reorganise staffing at other stations to enable Ashfield to provide whole-time service.
Now figures show that, between last December and this August, attendance times fell by one minute and 12 seconds compared with the same period a year earlier.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service following the fire authority meeting, Cllr Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), said: “There was lots of data showing that [removal of the 24-hour service] was the wrong decision.
“I kept saying there were loads of premature fire deaths, a challenge in us getting to fires on time.
“It’s taken a minute off of response times- if you’re going to rural villages, seconds mean lives, breathing in smoke, seconds mean lives.”
The meeting heard Ashfield’s extra funding hasn’t impacted response times in the other districts and boroughs.
Reintroducing the all-day service in Ashfield meant 30 full-time crew members moved across the fire authority establishment to ensure the station had enough staff.
This reduction in staff across the county’s different stations has not worsened the general availability of fire engines, with them being available 99.2 per cent of the time – slightly better than the previous year.
The deployment of fire engines from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service has also reduced in Ashfield, required only 30 times with the 24-hour service compared to 68 occasions in the previous year.
Safety visits to homes also increased with the longer service hours, from 381 in 2022 to 2023 to 736 recently.
With the longer service now in Ashfield, the number of incidents attended by the on-call team there reduced by 56 per cent.
Cllr Zadrozny says Ashfield’s full service has saved nearly £50,000 on extra call outs, with staff satisfaction also better.
He said: “All the data has proved that what we felt was right, was right.
“I think it’s saved lives and I’m really proud to be a part of it- Ashfield residents deserve a service that the rest of Nottinghamshire and the city have got.”