Letter: Fire service and budget cuts

Letter: Oh dear how is Shropshire fire service going to manage with the proposed budget cuts? I served the brigade in the 70s 80s and 90s and we were a lot busier than the brigade is now.

Well, let me try to help you. I served the brigade in the 70s 80s and 90s and we were a lot busier than the brigade is now. Then we had a chief, deputy chief and a third officer at the top. Now you have a load of assistant chief officers that seemed to arrive during an enlargement of the St Michael's Street empire.

What the taxpayer does not know are the perks that go with these so-called senior management posts, ie they get extra pay for being on call (can you tell us how many incidents they attend, phone bills are paid (rental part) and they get generous mileage allowances. In fact some have not had their backsides on the seat of a fire engine at all.

I think a cull at the top would benefit the brigade and would save thousands of pounds.

There used to be the triangle of fire, heat, oxygen and fuel, take away one and the fire goes out, let there be the square of fire, heat, oxygen, fuel and assistant chiefs take away one and the assistants and the fire will still go out and there's no need to touch the guys at the front line.

Name and address supplied