Locals in Fife have overwhelmingly rejected proposals by the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service to withdraw an engine and firefighters from Lochgelly.

In a Freedom of Information request raised by Radio Cowdenbeath, SFRS reported that a minority of responses to their Lochgelly proposals were supportive of the plans. 465 responses were received relating to Lochgelly.

• 320 people opposed both options
• 63 supported option 1
• 62 supported option 2

There were also 119 emails opposing the proposals around Lochgelly fire station.

Nationally, there were 3,673 responses to proposals affecting more than 30 stations across Scotland, causing concern and alarm in communities where services are to be withdrawn or redesigned.

Lewis Clark, East Area Chair with the Fire Brigades Union Scotland told us:

“The large negative response to these proposals, on top of the overwhelming public support for the Fire Brigades Union campaign, does show that the fire service would be hard pushed to enact these proposals and still maintain that they are listening to the communities they affect.

“The public support we’ve had has been massive, and these are educated and informed opinions that the public are forming. They know their communities, their roads, their risks and rightly arent willing to just believe the computer-generated risk models.”

In a stinging rebuke of the SFRS proposals, Jan Shultz, Chair of Lochgelly Community Council, who has led the local campaign against the cuts at Lochgelly, said:

“The strong turnout at both the Public Meeting and the SFRS consultation in Lochgelly over the summer clearly demonstrated the depth of feeling across our community regarding the proposed reduction in capacity at Lochgelly Fire Station. Local residents made their views unmistakably clear: there is just no support for these cuts and this FOI response lays that out in black and white.

“The message could not be clearer: Lochgelly Fire Station must remain fully resourced—at the very least.

“The suggestion that the station should lose an appliance, see firefighter numbers reduced, and surrender the Rope Rescue unit is entirely unacceptable—particularly when the displaced appliance would simply be moved to Glenrothes or Methil. This approach effectively pits one community against another.

“SFRS and the Scottish Government may attempt to frame these proposals within the language of national service reform, however, in practical terms, this is fundamentally an issue of funding, and the cuts that will inevitably follow from inadequate resources.

“You simply cannot reduce provision and expect to maintain the same level of service of emergency cover. It is not possible. It is deeply concerning that anyone—particularly senior leaders within SFRS—could consider compromising public safety in this way.“

Jan also confirmed that the community council had raised the reliability and validity of the Community Risk Index Model (CRIM) data being used to model the proposed changes, and have written to the SFRS and local elected members asking for a moratorium on any decisions on Lochgelly Fire Station until assurances can be made on the data being used.

SFRS bosses previously delayed a decision on the future of Lochgelly and said it will be announced in the new year, after extending the period of analysis on the public consultation responses until the end of this year.

More than 5,400 people have signed a petition against the cuts at Lochgelly fire station. You can join with us and oppose these cuts by signing here.