Local Labour London Assembly Member John Biggs AM today joined local residents in their march from Whitechapel Fire Station to City Hall.
The march comes as the consultation on the closure of 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 firefighters across London comes to a close on Monday. The time it will take for the first fire engine to respond to incidents in Bow and Mile end will increase as follows: Bow East from 4minutes 9 seconds to 7minutes 20seconds Bow West from 4minutes 41seconds to 6minutes 39 seconds Mile End East from 5minutes 26 seconds to 6minutes 18seconds
Speaking after the march local Labour London Assembly Member John Biggs AM said: “These cuts are totally unnecessary and will leave residents in our area with much reduced fire cover. In Bow attendance times will rise by over three minutes, this might not sound a lot but a fire can quadruple in intensity in just two minutes, every second counts. Fire deaths are down in London, but this is down to the hard work and professionalism of our brave firefighters.
On top of putting out fires they do a huge amount of community fire safety work. If they are cut back how will this work carry on? “The Mayor’s consultation closes on Monday, residents across London have told Boris with one voice that they do not accept his fire cuts. Let’s hope he listens, we’ll keep making a noise until he does.
Earlier this year we presented Boris with a fully costed plan to keep all of these fire stations open and fire engines on the road. This is one cut that the Mayor doesn’t have to make and is totally unnecessary. It’s time for him to listen to Londoners and drop these reckless plans. ”