Fewer fire station open days 'could affect safety'

Fewer fire service open days could have an impact on the sharing of safety messages, a union has said.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said it would no longer hold open days at its 14 stations, but instead two larger events would take place, at Kempston and Luton.

Jamie Newell, executive council member for the Eastern region of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said it was a "shame" as it would "reduce the opportunity for intervention and interaction".

The service said it might "not be a popular decision", but it was not taken lightly and the days were "extremely resource-intensive, in terms of time and money".

The service said it followed "careful consideration of the significant planning, staffing and operational resources required to safely deliver multiple open days alongside the service's day-to-day emergency response commitments".

"We're using an evidence-based, data-led approach to target our safety messaging and other campaigns to those most at risk through activities such as Year 2 school visits and Home Fire Safety Visits," a spokesperson said.

The open days that will take place are at Luton on Saturday, 20 June and Kempston on Sunday, 2 August.

Group commander Anthony Doherty said the new approach would "continue to provide safe, engaging and well-resourced events while making the best use of our operational crews and resources".

He confirmed other engagement activity across the year, including "recruitment events and specialist community sessions", would continue.

The FBU's Newell said the events, which he always enjoyed, were well attended and meant members of the public "could meet firefighters and get vital fire safety information, like how to stop chip pan fires".

He believes the changes were due to "staff cutbacks".

"It will reduce the opportunity for communities, children and future generations, who might want to be firefighters, from gaining insight into the job," he said.

"It will reduce intervention and interaction where we show what we do and how to make homes safer."

The number of charity car washes is due to increase to raise "funds for charitable causes while maintaining strong links with local communities".

The service said its 2025 fundraising efforts, including open days and car washes, raised more than £10,000 for the Fire Fighters Charity.

The decision will be reviewed after the summer "to see if we'll adopt the same approach in future years", it added.

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