Monday, October 29, 2012

Join the Campaign to Save Kingsland Fire Station

The London Fire Brigade is facing steep cuts due to the government cutting the fire budget by 25%.  That amounts to £29.5 million this year and by a further £35.3 million next year.  In total £65 million.

This is the biggest shake-up to the London Fire Brigade since it was created 146 years ago.

Earlier this month the BBC saw sight of a document that earmarked a total of 17 of the 113 fire stations in London for closure, which would see a loss of 600 jobs.

The stations include Kingsland Road fire station in Hackney along with fire stations in Action, Belsize, Bow, Clapham, Clerkenwell, Downham, Islington, Kensington, Knightsbridge, New Cross, Peckham, Silvertown, Southwark, Westminseter, Whitechapel and Woolwich. 

The following figures demonstrate the urgency of calling on the Mayor of London to reconsider plans to close Kingsland fire station:
  • The fire brigade attended around 4,500 incidents in Hackney in the last 12 months – 35% higher than the London borough average of 3,328.
  • The number of incidents is much higher in the south of the borough, surrounding Kingsland station.  471 of the incidents in the borough in the last 12 months were in Haggerston alone.
  • Kingsland fire station attended to 720 incidents across Hackney in the last 12 months, 658 of which were real incidents, and 52 false alarms.  This included 309 actual fires (plus 56 false alarms re fire).
  • Islington fire station, another station at risk of closure, has attended 71 incidents in Hackney in the last 12 months, when a call was received and the nearest Hackney fire station was unavailable.

You can read more about what you can do to join with the Hackney Labour Group to call on the Mayor of London to save Kingsland Fire Station here.

You can:
  • sign our petition online here
  • Download a petition here and collect signatures from your neighbours and friends
  • Join our Facebook group to keep updated on the campaign
  • Download a poster to put in your window