Other ways we’re making the best use of our resources

We have taken steps elsewhere in the organisation to save money and make the best use of our money, people, vehicles, and buildings.

Second appliance removal pilot

We are going to pilot the removal of some of the less frequently used fire engines at four of our on-call stations, where we currently have two fire engines. While these stations will remain operational with one fire engine, for the next year we will be removing the second fire engine.

The stations will be:

  • Romsey
  •  Waterlooville
  •  Petersfield
  • Lymington

These stations have been chosen after carefully analysing a lot of data, including our response times, protection and prevention risks in the local area, premises information, and more. This analysis has formed the basis for our 2025-30 Safety Plan. By piloting this approach, we hope to see if the real-world results match up with our data insights.

Introduction of a new multi-purpose heavy rescue vehicle

We are also introducing a new ‘Heavy Rescue Pump’ (HRP) vehicle that combines the firefighting capabilities of a fire engine with the heavy rescue equipment from our current stand-alone Rescue Support Vehicle (RSV). This will reduce the cost of maintaining two separate vehicles and make crewing the vehicle more efficient.

The stations that currently have RSVs are Basingstoke, Cosham, and Redbridge. The new vehicles will arrive in early 2026. Following this, we will redistribute other equipment in our fleet to maintain the same capability. This will enable us to reduce the numbers of firefighters across two stations by 20 posts. It will not result in any redundancies, and will be managed through turnover as people leave the Service.

Review of manager and support staff roles

We have already reduced our headquarters senior team by four posts, and we are restructuring the number of middle managers across our operational teams. Some roles will be combined, and responsibilities will be redistributed to ensure a balanced workload and continued operational effectiveness.

We have undertaken a review of our support staff and looked at the roles to identify savings that can be made. The Service has offered a voluntary arrangement first to avoid compulsory redundancy.

Second appliance removal pilot FAQs

Will this impact on how quickly a fire crew can get to these areas in an emergency?

There will be no delay in initial response for critical incidents as all the stations will continue to operate one appliance and all incident types will continue to be managed as per our response plans.   

Why have you selected these stations?

These stations have been chosen after carefully analysing a lot of data, including response times, protection and prevention risks, premises information, and more.  

Is this just a money saving measure?

The proposed changes are being considered based on risk assessment and data analysis that have shown that we have resources that are not required or being used. The changes are about having the right resources in the right place to meet the identified risks in our communities.  

Our HMICFRS report from 2021/22 highlights significant challenges in maintaining on call fire engines that are available for use. HIWFRS currently has 84 fire engines available for response wholetime and on call, which are all being maintained but not necessarily used.  

If after the pilot, we move to implement the changes, a saving would be generated that would contribute to our wider savings plan. 

Fire Services nationally have been underfunded for several years, despite population growth, increased risk from an ageing population, increased demand due to climate change, and the need to implement recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and the Manchester Arena Inquiry. Creating healthy and inclusive workplaces, maintaining and upgrading vehicles and equipment, and addressing health risks for firefighters all require significant investment.

The costs of delivering our services have outpaced our funding and therefore any changes we make must also take into account the need to make savings.

Will any firefighters be made redundant due to the pilot?

No

What’s going to happen at the end of the pilot?  

The pilot will run for a minimum of one year with regular reviews to understand the impact. The quarterly reviews will ensure current data matches the trends experienced over the last 5 years to determine if the Service will move forward and consult on permanently removing one appliance from each of the four stations

If the pilot is successful could we see other stations losing a fire engine too?

At present we are just testing if the real-world results match up with our data insights for these four stations.   

Introduction of a new multi-purpose heavy rescue vehicle FAQs

How many Stations will be affected?

Basingstoke, Cosham and Redbridge will each receive one of the new heavy rescue pumps 

Is there a risk of either redundancies or people being redeployed? 

The introduction of the new heavy rescue vehicle will mean we can crew the affected stations differently and will mean a reduction in 20 firefighter posts across two stations (Redbridge and Cosham), but this will not result in any redundancies and will be managed through turnover as people leave the Service and through transfers to other stations or parts of the Service.    

Why will Redbridge and Cosham fire stations have to lose firefighters, but Basingstoke won’t?

The stations are currently crewed and resourced differently. At Basingstoke they have both an Aerial Ladder Platform and a Rescue Support Vehicle (RSV) – whereas Redbridge and Cosham only have one special each, the RSV. At Basingstoke they double-jump the ALP/RSV,  so when they change to the new Heavy Rescue Pump they will still need the same crewing numbers because they’re still required for the ALP.

Why is the IOW RSV not being replaced?

The vehicle on the IOW is not crewed in the same way as on the mainland so the increased efficiency is not realised by removing at this location.

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How will this affect the service you provide?

The new vehicle combines firefighting capabilities with the heavy rescue equipment from our current stand-alone Rescue Support Vehicle (RSV). The introduction of these new vehicles will maintain our current capabilities for firefighting and rescue but reduce the cost of maintaining two separate vehicles and make crewing the vehicle more efficient. Other specialist assets from the RSV will be distributed to other vehicles to maintain the same response.

 

When will the changes take place? 

The new vehicles are planned to go live at the beginning of next year.  ​

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