[wolverine]

The public were told this would happen at the time but didn't care. Here is a brief outline of what happened.

On the day the fire station closed, six firefighters remained. Bear in mind you need at least five on a fire engine with four as an absolute minimum. These firefighters had other jobs as well, but managed to keep that fire engine available most of the time.

That day, four of the firefighters resigned, as they did not live close enought to the new station to keep thier job (they have to live within five minutes).

The two remaning firefighters transferred to the new station, but were effectively useless as they had no other firefighters with with to maintain a fire engine. This is despite promises from Lancs Fire that a new crew would have been recruited and ready trained in time for them. Lancs Fire also blocked attempts from the full time firefighters to assist crewing the fire engine.

SIX MONTHS LATER, two new firefighters were recruited, bringing the fire engine available for a limited time only. As the new firefighters had not completed all thier training the fire engine could only go to small fires, rendering it next to useless.

It took Lancs Fire ANOTHER SIX MONTHS to recruit another three firefighters, and to complete the training for the fire engine to be able to respond properly.

As I understand it, the fire engine has only just started to be effective again, which is thanks only to the firefighters who transfered and the full time firefighters working extra hard to plug the shortfall.

Only ten years ago, this area had three fire engines at the old accrington station, two at great harwood, and one at oswaldtwistle and haslingden. That is SEVEN fire engines.

The same area is now going to have only THREE - that is a reduction of over half. Remember, this includes Whitebirk, Rishton, Great Harwood, Whalley, Accrington, Baxenden, Rising Bridge, Haslingden, Oswaldtwistle, Belthorne, Knuzden, Church, Clayton Le Moors, Altham, Hapton, Langho.

Now, here is the important bit. Sure, the area can cope with only three fire engines, BUT - as soon as there is one fire in the area listed above, there is only one left for the next one.

They will struggle to cope with two house fires at the same time, which I am sure you will agree is more than likely.

More importantly, Haslingden is a hot spot for large mill fires (how many times have you read in the LET about fires like Duralay and Mayfield Chicks, both requireing over 10 fire engines).

So, imagine this scenario - a fire in Haslingden requiring ten fire engines, that would be two from the new station, and one from great harwood. Two from rawtenstall, two from blackburn, one from bacup one from burnley one from darwen (not to mention any special fire engines they need wich all need an extra fire engine for support).

Now, you and your family are at home trapped by a fire. You call for a fire engine. It is coming from Preston or Nelson (Over ten miles as the crow flies). Oh, and as they aren't familiar with the area, it will take them longer to get there.

Because don't forget - if you lose these fire engines, you also lose the firefighters. And these firefighters grew up in the area's they serve - they know the area inside out. You are losing thier expertise.

So this time, get up off your arses, or you will lose so much more than you ever had. Oswaldtwistle fire station should never have shut down - FACT.