No emergency call-outs in Fenland during national fire fighters strike

FIRE chiefs thanked Fenland residents for embracing a Be Safer…Be Slower…Be Vigilant motto during the first fire strike in 25 years that hit the country last week.

No emergency calls were made in the Fens during the four hour strike period last Wednesday and only three 999 calls were made across the entire county.

The strike took place from mid day to 4pm in a row over pensions.

Fire chiefs said that whilst the service was significantly impacted by the industrial action, the safety messages sent out urging people to be extra vigilant, helped reduce the number of emergency calls.

Chris Strickland from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We would like to thank members of the public for putting safety at the forefront of

their minds and as a result, helping us to reduce the number of calls we usually attend.

“The calls have been attended during this period using fully trained fire and rescue service officers to crew our fire engines, who have been diverted from their normal work to do so.

“We had less calls overall, which really goes to show that Cambridgeshire residents took our Be Safer…Be Slower…Be Vigilant advice to heart and we would like to thank everyone for doing so.”

During the strike the county’s fire crew promised to continue to function but with reduced cover.

They pledged to attend incidents where a person’s life was at risk, including house fires, road traffic collisions and vehicle fires.

The plans did not match the Service’s normal day-to-day cover, but were enough to ensure that life-threatening incidents, such as house fires, road traffic collisions and vehicle fires received a 999 response, said Mr Strickland.