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To: Councillor Roy Galley, Chair of East Sussex Fire Authority

Email East Sussex Fire Authority to demand they stop fire and rescue cuts

Thanks to everyone who supported our campaign, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service were forced to rethink the cuts and put forward new proposals. These proposals have now been accepted by the fire authority.

Under the new plan, four fire engines have been saved and a number of stations will retain whole-time firefighters for day-time fire cover seven days a week. The service has also been forced to change plans which would have seen huge numbers of firefighter posts cut.

Together, we’ve helped to keep East Sussex residents safe.

East Sussex Fire Authority must do right by the firefighters who are working hard to keep the public safe during this crisis, and stop the devastating cuts to East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.

Please help us by emailing Roy Galley, Chair of East Sussex Fire Authority, now.

Why is this important?

We are firefighters in East Sussex who are extremely concerned about the proposed cuts to our fire service.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, East Sussex Fire Authority are rushing through a consultation on further cuts to our service, including:

● Cutting 10 fire engines from across the county at Battle, Bexhill, Crowborough, Lewes, Newhaven, Rye, Uckfield, Seaford, Heathfield and Wadhurst fire stations;
● Cutting dedicated crews for high-reaching aerial fire appliances in Hastings, even after Grenfell;
● Cutting wholetime firefighter staffing levels across the county, particularly at fire stations in Lewes, Newhaven, Uckfield, Crowborough, Battle and Bexhill;
● Cutting on-call firefighter numbers across the county;
● Reducing night-time fire cover at The Ridge fire station;
● Introducing less family-friendly shift patterns

As firefighters, we have a duty to tell you that these cuts are a clear and present danger to public safety.

The plans proposed by East Sussex Fire Authority were also drawn up before the COVID-19 crisis, and do not take into account what fire and rescue services should look like into the future.

We are currently taking on additional work to support our communities and emergency services, and cuts to our service will negatively impact our ability to keep the public safe. Our service is already under pressure due to years of austerity, which has seen 11,500 firefighter jobs cut across the UK, and 89 firefighter jobs cut in East Sussex.

This pandemic has shown just how vital our fire service is – we cannot go back to an austerity model where our public services are the first in line for budget cuts. Public safety must be put first and our service needs investment, for now and for the future.

Help us to put pressure on East Sussex Fire Authority to halt the consultation and stop cuts to our fire and rescue service.

We are running out of time. Please send an email to the chair of the fire authority now.

East Sussex, UK

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Updates

2020-10-12 15:49:41 +0100

Petition is successful with 2,179 signatures

2020-05-15 09:04:42 +0100

1,000 signatures reached

2020-05-13 20:38:53 +0100

500 signatures reached

2020-05-13 12:43:49 +0100

100 signatures reached

2020-05-13 12:03:15 +0100

50 signatures reached

2020-05-13 11:43:04 +0100

25 signatures reached

2020-05-13 11:27:23 +0100

10 signatures reached