Last September, the Fire and Rescue Authority agreed capital funding to support not only putting a new building on the site for East Cowes on-call firefighters to respond from, but also to offer improved fleet maintenance facilities for the island’s fire vehicles.
Our Estates team have worked closely with the Isle of Wight Council in recent months to develop suitable plans for the York Avenue site which doesn’t impact on resident boundaries and protects surrounding trees.
The HIWFRS Island Fleet and Equipment Maintenance Centre is currently based in Newport and needs an upgrade. A new purpose-built facility at East Cowes would offer a much-improved standard of facilities that would enable the Service’s modern vehicles to be suitably maintained. It will also accommodate clean and dirty zones and space for additional decontaminated equipment to help improve the safety of crews.
The safety of our teams and the local community is our priority, and the condition of the previous building meant that demolishing it was the best course of action to take, allowing the site to be developed and new fire station building constructed.
Speaking at the time the capital funding was agreed, Isle of Wight Fire Authority Member, Cllr Karen Lucioni, said:
“The decision of the fire authority is a clear commitment to the people of East Cowes.
“This investment will not only see the return of operational fire crews to the town but will also make best use of the site with the addition of much-needed vehicle maintenance facilities.
“Over the last two years, four brand-new light fleet vehicles and two brand-new fire appliances have been allocated to the Island and we need to ensure we have the capability to service and repair these and our other vehicles.”
The East Cowes site was temporarily taken out of operation last year due to health and safety risks associated with the building. To maintain cover the on-call crew has been travelling to Newport Fire Station to collect their fire engine and attend incidents.
Dean Haward, Group Manager for the Isle of Wight said:
“The fire service is committed to returning the East Cowes crews to their base in the town. Thanks to the support of our Fire Authority and the work of our Estates team, who have worked closely with our Isle of Wight Council partners, we are making great progress to doing just that.
“Our on-call teams, not just in East Cowes, but across the island and wider Service, are valued members of their communities, showing incredible dedication to protect the local areas in which they live and work.
“We truly value them for sacrificing their time to make life safer in our community.”
To crew our on-call stations we rely on members of the community being able to join our team and we are looking for new on-call firefighters across the Island and would encourage anyone interested to find out more about this rewarding role.