Let me share with you some facts: facts that James Gray and Jane Scott have no idea about. Facts the Chief and Deputy Fire Officers won’t tell you. Facts Graham Payne and a few others on the fire authority I suspect fully realise already.

These facts give some indication of the dangers that lie ahead following Jane Scott’s/James Gray’s unwelcome and ill-informed political intervention with the Wiltshire/ Dorset fire merger.

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service (WFRS) is already on the brink. Every day eight to ten part-time stations are closed. The fire engines are parked in the bay, the stations are still there, but there is no-one available to sit on the engines.

Failure to secure a merger will have a devastating impact on front-line services. Cuts will have to be made to fire stations, fire engines and firefighters otherwise WFRS face bankruptcy.

Late last year WFRS opened three community hubs at Devizes, Amesbury and Marlborough. These were made up of full-time staff who were taken from other stations across the county, predominantly Salisbury, Trowbridge and Chippenham.

The three hub stations are very quiet stations. The purpose of these hubs was to act as a base for full-time staff to prop up surrounding part-time stations that were shut most days. A sort of life support system for an ailing patient.

Within WFRS (and nationally) there is a chronic problem with recruitment and retention of part-time retained staff. The pay is poor; the commitment required is monumental. Employers or the self-employed no longer have the time, money or inclination to allow their staff to disappear off to fires for hours on end. The retained staff still do a fine job, despite these restraints.

Full-time stations are regularly the only fire cover for surrounding towns whose stations are shut due to crewing issues. Salisbury cover Wilton, Chippenham cover Calne, Trowbridge cover Bradford on Avon and Westbury, Westlea cover Royal Wootton Bassett. Fire cover is stretched to the limit already.

Loss of full-time firefighters will have a devastating impact on fire cover of the large towns of Wiltshire. Full-time staff and stations will closed or be downgraded. The service then relies exclusively on part-time staff which don’t exist in sufficient numbers to be viable.

So the chronic crewing problems WFRS face are then multiplied ten fold and the service collapses.

Jane Scott’s/James Gray’s master plan will not make the required savings. Back room staff are low paid and not in abundance.

When you call the fire service you don’t care what the badge on the fire engine is.

James Gray’s piece in the Gazette & Herald last week showed ignorance of how the fire service operates. There is something seriously amiss if Jane Scott and James Gray think they have a greater knowledge and wisdom of the fire service than two Chief Fire Officers with 60 years’ experience between them.

When the public consultation starts, please have your say. But try to think about pubic safety rather than public office.

A serving firefighter.