Firefighters at Chippenham and Trowbridge Fire Stations have had specialist flood rescue equipment taken away by the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Authority in order to save £30,000, which is less than 0.05% of the fire service budget. 100,000 people in the Chippenham and Trowbridge area have been left without flood rescue equipment for the sake of 30p per person. 

Despite the risks to firefighters and members of public, the Dorset controlled fire authority voted to remove the vital equipment and stop the specialist training the firefighters need to respond to the flooding incidents in the Chippenham and Trowbridge areas. Equipment will now be located in Dorset and Swindon.

The reason Trowbridge and Chippenham firefighters were given the equipment and training is because of the known risk that flooding poses in our area. There will now be a 60 minute wait for people trapped in flooding for the same specialist equipment that is currently 8-10 minutes away at Chippenham and Trowbridge Fire Stations, to arrive from Dorset or Swindon. Our local firefighters will face the dangerous decision of whether to attempt to rescue people without the correct equipment rather than wait an hour for backup to arrive. This is a dreadful position to put our firefighters in.