THE CHIEF Fire Officer of Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service has spoken out about today’s decision to hold a public consultation on the closure of eight stations.

In a social media post titled ‘A day of difficult decisions’, Andy Cole acknowledged the underfunding that the service has experienced for more than a decade.

He also urged residents to make their voices heard when the consultation goes live in three days, advising people on the ways they can get involved.

“As a result of continuous years of cuts from successive governments to our funding as a fire and rescue service and despite us making savings of over £15 million a year on our revenue budget since our combination in 2016, which itself was driven by the financial climate, we see our funding gap continue to grow,” he explained.

“Unfortunately, today officers have presented proposals to the fire authority to go to public consultation for the closure of eight fire stations across Dorset and Wiltshire.

“The fire service has voted to go out to public consultation and that will commence on February 13 and run for 13 weeks.

“It’s really important that people share their views. They can do that through our website, through our social media and through public meetings and online briefings.

“Through that mechanism the fire authority will make its decision.”