Residents urged to have say on South Yorkshire fire service proposals

Fire chiefs claim they need to change the way the service operates, having lost more than £14 million in government funding since 2010.

They stress that they are not planning on reducing fire station or engine numbers.

Proposals include making more of its firefighters available in the day when crews are busiest and changing its prevention work to focus on those most at risk.

Bosses also plan to look for more ways of working more closely with the police and ambulance services.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Martin Blunden, said: “Our vision for the lifetime of this plan is to provide the best possible service to the people of South Yorkshire within the resources which are available to us.

“We are not proposing any further significant changes to our core 999 service, beyond those outlined in previous plans. But the proposals we have outlined in this plan do explain how we intend to develop our service to become more efficient in what we do and make the biggest possible difference to those most at risk of fire.

“These are draft proposals and we really want to gather views from the public on the plans we have put forward.”

Members of the public have until March 27 to have their say.

Visit www.syfire.gov.uk to read the proposals in full and to express opinions.