Firefighters campaign to keep local control room in operation (From Warrington Guardian)

Firefighters campaign to keep local control room in operation

FIREFIGHTERS in Crewe are supporting a campaign to save the emergency control room in Winsford from the axe.

Government officials have proposed to close all 46 local control rooms in the UK - including Cheshire Fire Service's - and replace them with nine regional centres.

But firefighters and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) are protesting against the plans and have enlisted the help of the county's MPs to help fight their cause.

The Government's plan will see residents from as far south of the North West as Crewe and Nantwich being served by the same control centre as residents in Cumbria.

The regional emergency call centre is expected to be situated in either Liverpool, Manchester or Preston, which Crewe firefighters are now campaigning against.

Crewe fireman and Cheshire FBU secretary Dave Williams said: "The next six months is going to be crucial in determining the future of how the fire service is going to operate.

"The Government is hoping to open the first regional control room in the South West at the start of 2008.

"Once they have started building that centre and things are up and running it will be too late, so we need to start campaigning now to get as much support as we possibly can.

"The majority of the 24 staff at the control room in Winsford will lose their jobs, and the Government hasn't said where the new regional centre will be in the North West.

"Staff at Winsford know all the areas in Cheshire but a new centre won't know the ins and outs of Crewe and Nantwich and other areas in the county.

"Gareth Roberts at Crewe fire station has written a letter to Gwyneth Dunwoody asking for her support and we are hoping she will help us."