If a major fire occurs, like that in the George in Rye in 2019 shown above, specialist gear like the aerial ladder may have to be borrowed in future, if possible, from a Kent fire station as Rye is "frontier territory", and such equipment may move even further away in Sussex to the largest centres like Eastbourne, warned a fireman at last Saturday's lunchtime protest meeting at the Tilling Green Community Centre. In 2019 the aerial ladder arrived about two hours after the other fire engines - and time is crucial in a fire.
Public meetings were held in Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea and Icklesham last weekend to oppose further proposed cuts in local fire service and Helena Dollimore, Labour's parliamentary candidate for Hastings and Rye, said she would stand up for our fire services as Labour MP for the area.
Virtually all public services have faced repeated cuts in the past dozen years after the banking crisis caused by the banks' bad investments, the meetings were told, and these cuts in equipment, pay and jobs have resulted in worse public services, ranging from the NHS to schools, universities and even the courts.
Rye has recently lost one of its two fire engines and there is a pattern over recent years of fewer fire engines and fewer staff which the fire brigade's union is fighting with Labour Party help.
Fireman Leo Cacciatiore said Rye had been lucky that there had been no major incidents recently, but fire risks were increasing with climate change and incidents ranging from wild fires to unexpected floods, while nationally fire services had lost one in five staff across the country.
"The numbers of staff and the number of engines keep going down" he said, but risks like the chemical works on the way down to Rye Harbour have not gone away - and even a home fire can pose many risks if not dealt with quickly.
The fire authority are looking again at their proposed cuts, and a petition against the cuts is in hand with a number of protest meetings being held across the district.
