Local MP, Caroline Dinenage, met with senior staff from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service today.
Caroline met with the newly appointed Group Manager for Gosport and Fareham, Justin Harden, and Dave Curry the Chief Officer. They discussed the "Making Hampshire Safer" strategies and plans which are starting to take shape.
Hampshire's Fire and Rescue Service have recently been given a gold award for their involvement of public and staff in the reshaping of services. The Consultation Institute (TCI) described the work of the Service over the last two years as a "model of best practice".
The Safer Hampshire consultation, which shaped proposals that will help save £5m and see frontline services radically overhauled, was not only given the highest possible grading by TCI but was also described as an exemplar of public and staff engagement.
Option 2 was chosen for Gosport from the consultation, which replaces the current two Enhanced Vehicles with One Enhanced, One Intermediate Vehicle and One First Response Vehicle. The average first response time was 5 minutes 36 seconds but under this proposal would be 5 minutes and 17 Seconds, a slight improvement. This was the option Caroline favoured and she wrote to the Chief Officer of Hampshire Fire and Rescue in support of.
Speaking after the meeting, Caroline said:
"It was great to meet with Justin and Dave to find out how the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service are adapting to deal with the new challenges they face daily.
I think it is vitally important to maintain strong links with the emergency services and find out what I can do to support them to keep Gosport constituents safe"
You can read more about their Integrated Risk Management Plan at http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/about-us/a-safer-hampshire/need-more-details/.
