RESIDENTS in and around Gwaun Cae Gurwen in Powys have expressed alarm regarding the number of staff who currently operate Amman Valley Fire Station. An anonymous source claims that the Powys fire station has not been able to respond to emergency calls for over a month due to excessive staffing cutbacks.
Although a Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue spokesman confirmed that there have been staffing changes made to the station, he assured that the resident’s claims are false as the station’s alterations have had no impact on the way the service is delivered within the community.
The spokesman expressed that staffing is not an issue in the fire service as “the authority continues to advertise and recruit on-call fire-fighters and we encourage interested parties to contact their nearest fire station.”
The resident questioned whether with the controversial tax increases around Wales, and with the new council tax due, “Are we really getting what we pay for?”
At the end of 2015, a local supermarket’s sign blew over in the high speed wind. However, according to the resident, it was left to fire crew members from an alternate station to tackle the issue, despite the sign only being a little over 100 yards away from Amman Valley station.
Concerns have been raised over how the Amman Valley fire crew will respond to an emergency involving fire, as it will take an alternate fire team much longer to get to the blaze, with considerably more damage being done to people and property in the extra travel time needed. “Amman Valley fire station was put in place to cut down on times to reduce the risk of deaths,” the resident continued.
However, the spokesman assures that there is nothing to worry about, and makes it clear that the fire station “has been and continues to deal with a number of calls”.
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