Andrew Dismore

Dear Editor,

In May  2013  I warned that Conservative London  Mayor Johnson’s cuts to the Fire Brigade would hit Camden harder than any other borough.  I said:

‘No other borough will see as many large increases in average waits for a fire engine, according to estimates published by the London Fire Brigade (LFB). Six wards in Camden will also be pushed outside the six-minute response-time target set by the LFB’.

By  December last year, it was even worse than that, as  no fewer than 14 of Camden’s wards now had  slower fire brigade response times after Mayor Johnson’s had gone ahead and closed 10 fire  stations including Belsize and Clerkenwell in Camden.

In July this year, I warned

‘The  strain on our local fire service, post the closure of Belsize Fire Station shut by Mayor Boris Johnson, was brought into sharp focus by the series of fires  on Saturday 4^th July, including  the ‘person reported’ incident in Belmont Street: the address of this fire was previously part of  the now closed Belsize Fire Station’s ground.  It took 15 minutes for the first appliance to arrive from as far away as Dowgate.  Thankfully, there was no loss of life, but it shows the impact of closing Belsize- and the risk from the further front  line fire brigade cuts the Mayor seems  determined to force through’.

So it gives no satisfaction to see my dire predictions come true last week, with the two fires in Finchley Road and the fatal fire in Camden Road. While we wait for the inquest to determine the precise circumstances of the tragic death of Mr Yip, there is no argument that it took the Fire Brigade over 13 minutes to arrive – from Soho this time- more than double the target attendance time. This is no criticism of the fire crews. They just had too far to come.

But it is a trenchant criticism of the Conservatives  who, not satisfied with wrecking the Metropolitan Police with impossible cuts demands, are  doing the same to the fire service.

The Mayor now wants to cut another 13 fire engines on top of the 10 stations that he closed last year. Residents must write to him and tell them that the few pence a week this saves on the Council Tax is a not worth it, when so much is at stake for London and Londoners. These cuts must be resisted by all sensible people as the false economy they are.

 

Andrew Dismore

Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden