windsorfirestation.co.uk

Regarding the recent adverse weather the BBC news website reported that, ’Motorists on the M3 in Hampshire and M4 in Berkshire spent up to 10 hours stuck in traffic…’
Granted the snowfalls on the 21 December were exceptional, but the ramifications of any motorway disruption in Berkshire will be acute if the plans to close Windsor Fire Station at night are implemented. Why? Because the plan is that Slough Fire Station should cover Windsor in addition to their own large station area. This presumes that Slough will be available, since they are one of the busiest stations within the county.
Next we need to scrutinise time factors, since the extra minutes of travel for the Slough appliance to get to an incident upon Windsor’s station ground could mean the difference between life and death. And now we need to consider adverse weather and motorway closures/restrictions which effectively ‘gridlock’ the area. If the roads are congested, the fire appliances may take a lot longer to reach the scene of an incident.
The Windsor and Eton Relief Road is the main arterial link from Slough and already carries 22 million vehicles each year (Source: Royal Borough Council) This is the route which Slough Firefighters would have to take to cover an incident in Windsor. With effect from the spring of 2010 substantial renovations and improvements will be undertaken for a period of 1 ½ years. This will inevitably lead to restrictions in traffic flow. Remember, that time is critical in an emergency.
The 2012 Olympic rowing event to be held at Dorney Lake is also expected to bring an extra 25,000 extra visitors every day into the area. That figure is in addition to the 7 million visitors each year to Windsor (10% of which stay in overnight hotel/guest house accommodation)
The simple and effective answer to maintain operational resilience within east Berkshire (Windsor frequently back up other stations) is to keep Windsor Fire Station a 24/7 resource.