Edward has joined Leicestershire’s Chief Fire and Rescue Officer, Callum Faint, on a visit to Melton Mowbray Fire Station to meet the local team, and to hear about the work of our local fire station, as well as how Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service is performing.
Melton Mowbray Fire Station operates two fire engines from its Nottingham Road base in the town, crewed by a mixture of full-time and retained fire-fighters, local men and women who are trained as fire-fighters and are on call, ready to drop everything to respond to a range of emergencies. And the range of emergencies the local team respond to in any given month is huge, from fires, to road traffic collisions, to rescues, helping tackle the aftermath of flooding, large animal rescues in our rural areas, and a vast programme of fire prevention work and education for children and young people.
Alongside the warm welcome provided by the local team, the visit gave Edward the opportunity to catch up with the county’s Chief Fire & Rescue Officer, Callum Faint, to discuss the performance of our local Fire & Rescue Service, which is among the most efficient and effective in the country, plans for the Service’s new state of the art 999 call handling and response mobilization service, and the financial pressures on our local Fire Service.
Edward said: “It was a real pleasure and privilege to meet some of the local team at Melton Fire Station – people who run into danger to help us and our community when we are in need. Their dedication, service & bravery are something we should all be incredibly grateful for, and I thank them all.
While Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service is one of the most efficient in the country, it is also one of the lowest funded per head of local population. I am calling on the new Government to ensure our local service gets a fair share of the funding available to continue providing that first-class service to our communities and will be campaigning for fairer funding for them in the months and years ahead.”
