Portsmouth fire leaves people in high buildings at risk, union says
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Dec 2016, 06:00 BST
Updated 29th Dec 2016, 15:11 BST
A ROW over cuts to the fire service has been reignited after an aerial ladder truck from Southampton was called to a fire when there was a similar vehicle two miles down the road in Southsea.
Firefighters were called to a blaze at a launderette in Albert Road, Southsea, yesterday morning which took over three hours to put out. More than 50 officers attended.
Crews from Southsea were the first to respond. Two trucks initially went, each with at least four firefighters on them. Back-up was called for so another truck from Southsea went with a further four firefighters on board.
This left nobody at the station to man the aerial platform ladder, which was later required at the launderette.
Back-up was called from other stations across Hampshire, meaning an aerial platform ladder had to come from St Mary’s.
Some people have now raised concerns about what would happen in the event of an incident in a high-rise building – although the fire service is adamant that the Southsea aerial ladder truck would be sent out if that was the case.