Gloucestershire welcomes second community fire station
The second community fire station for Gloucestershire is ready for business and will open its doors tomorrow (Thursday 17th May).
Gloucester North community fire station is on Cheltenham Road East, Churchdown and will be a fully operational fire station from tomorrow, providing excellent access routes to all parts of Gloucester.
The station has four bays for vehicles, which will initially house two fire engines and a number of specialist vehicles.
There is also a state of the art road traffic collision training area for firefighters to test their operational skills.
There is office space for station managers, watch managers and fire safety personnel as well as storage for firefighters' personal protective equipment and other uniform items.
The station will also feature a self-contained community area including dedicated toilets, refreshment area and adjoining prayer/baby changing/feeding room.
A training room used for lectures by fire service personnel will be located next to the community room, with a folding partition so that either room has flexibility to be extended if needed.
Gloucester North is the second of four community fire stations which will help firefighters meet their eight minute response deadline to more than 14,000 additional homes and businesses around the city and boost Gloucestershire's ability to respond to emergencies, not only locally but when necessary across the region.
As a result, GFRS is now better placed to deal with the existing and potential risks to the county and therefore, save more lives.
Chief Fire Officer, Jon Hall, said, "I am pleased that the second community fire station has now opened in Gloucester"
"The location of the station will improve response times to the north side of Gloucester. It is also close to the A40 and M5, meaning that firefighters will be able to access these routes quicker if a serious road traffic collision occurs"
Councillor Will Windsor-Clive, cabinet member for communities, said, "The new fire station looks great - it also has a lot of facilities and a state of the art road traffic collision training room which will be vital to test our firefighters' skills. All of the new stations will improve how our fire service serves and protects the people of Gloucestershire, which is our priority"
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
- Cheltenham West community fire station opened in April this year. The other community fire stations opening in the county this year are: Cheltenham East (on Keynsham Road), Gloucester South (by Cole Avenue) and a community life skills centre (SkillZONE).
- The project will be supported financially under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) that involves £40million of Government funding
- Due to financial support from Government, the cost to the county's taxpayers to build the four new stations and life skills centre - including repair, maintenance and running costs over the next 25 years - will be £21.5million
- The two old fire stations in Cheltenham and Gloucester were no longer fit for purpose and needed to be replaced.
- It will cost just £3.8million more over 25 years to build four new community fire stations and a community life skills centre, compared to the costs of demolishing and rebuilding the two old fire stations in Cheltenham and Gloucester.
Issued by: Laura Biddington, Gloucestershire County Council Media Team, 01452 425226, laura.biddington@gloucestershire.gov.uk
You can follow Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service on www.facebook.com/glosfire or www.twitter.com/glosfire You can also follow our Chief Fire Officer on www.twitter.com/glosfirechief
16th May 2012