Gloucester South fire station opens for business
The last of four new community fire stations in Gloucestershire will be fully operational next week.
'Gloucester South', situated on Shepherd Road off Cole Avenue in Gloucester, will be open on Monday 23rd July. It will provide improved fire cover for the south of the city, including access to the M5 at Hardwicke.
The station has six bays for vehicles, which includes fire engines, rescue boats and four wheel drive vehicles. There is also a purpose built training building that will provide a range of practical scenarios such as ladder work, breathing apparatus search and rescue, basement fire fighting and flooding to test firefighters operational skills.
Jon Hall, Chief Fire Officer for Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service, said: "All four new stations are something that we should be really proud of."
"Gloucester South is the last of four community fire stations which will help firefighters meet their eight minute response deadline to more than 14,000 extra homes and businesses around the city and boost Gloucestershire's ability to respond to emergencies, not only locally but when necessary across the region."
"Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is now better placed to deal with the existing and potential risks to the county and therefore, save more lives."
Councillor Will Windsor-Clive, Cabinet Member for Communities, added: "This has been a huge project and I am delighted with the new fire stations. Gloucester South has great facilities and will improve our response times in this area of the city."
Offices are included for station managers, watch managers and fire safety personnel as well as storage for fire fighters personal protective equipment and other uniform items. The station also features a self-contained community area including dedicated toilets, refreshment area and welfare facilities.
A training room used for lectures by fire service personnel is located next to the community room with a folding partition so that either room has flexibility to be extended if needed.
For more useful safety education resources, why not visit the education resource centre pages of the Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership website
The 'SkillZONE' lifeskills centre, an interactive educational village, is nearing completion and is taking bookings now for September. Click here for more details http://skillzone.glosfire.gov.uk/
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
- The fire service has opened four new community fire stations at Gloucester North (near Elmbridge Court), Cheltenham East (on Keynsham Road), Gloucester South (by Cole Avenue) and a community life skills centre in 2012.
- 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 are no longer fit for purpose and had 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: Hayley Vining, Gloucestershire County Council Media Team, 01452 425226, hayley.vining@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
20th July 2012