East Cowes Fire Station is to close imminently, Isle of Wight Councillor Karl Love has been told. Councillor Karl Love has told Island Echo that he was told of the closure yesterday (Wednesday) and understands that there are plans to move all the equipment out and take it to Newport at some point today. It is said that the reason for the closure is the state of the fire station itself which is said to have fallen into a state of disrepair – although Island Echo understands that these issues have been ongoing for some time. The town of East Cowes – which has just 1 road in and out – is set to be put in a vulnerable position in terms of fire service resilience with the nearest stations now to be either Newport or Ryde. It was back in January that Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service said it was to conduct a risk review of local operations including looking into what needs to be done to ensure all stations are fit for purpose – a review which remains ongoing. Just a month later, in February, Islanders were asked to pay 3% more towards the fire service in the 2024-25 tax year. Glenn Bowyer, Director of Operations at HIWFRS, said:
“East Cowes fire station has significant structural issues. The building has suffered with subsidence and subsequent underpinning has resolved the movement, however the residual damage has left the building in an unmaintainable state. “Most recent assessments of the building have led us to make the decision that our crews cannot continue to operate from the station due to health and safety concerns. “The safety of our crews and the community is our priority. We have been linking in with local organisations to see if we can find a temporary location that the East Cowes crews can operate from, but at present no suitable site has been identified. We will therefore be temporarily relocating the East Cowes fire engine to Newport and the East Cowes crews will carry out their drill nights and train there. We are also working with crews at East Cowes to enable them to mobilise from Newport when there is an incident. “At this stage our focus is on implementing an immediate temporary solution, no long-term decisions have been made. “As we go through this process, we will keep our crews and communities, who will continue to be protected by Newport and neighbouring stations, informed of any updates.”
Fire Authority Member and Isle of Wight Councillor Karen Lucioni, has said:
“The condition of the fire station in East Cowes means that HIWFRS can no longer operate from there for health and safety reasons. Therefore the decision has had to be made to find a temporary new location for the firefighters and vehicles currently based there. “I have spoken with senior officers at the fire service and am assured that they are taking every step necessary to put in place a temporary solution that puts the safety of the community and crews first. The community of East Cowes will continue to be well protected by Newport and neighbouring stations. “The actions being taken are based on immediate building safety concerns and no long-term decisions about the station are being considered at this stage.”
Oh well no lose as monkey town a dump the feral scum can burn it up quicker in the future.
With shit heads like you who are to scared to put your real name to your post the people of East Cowes are far beter than you will ever be if your brave enough put your name to your post
Welcome to Tory Brittan, you want a fire service?? Best get ready to be buying monthly subscriptions and placing a plaque on your house.
Tories, taking Brittan back to the 1800’s since the 1980’s.
Where’s Brittan????
Brittas Empire?! …what a goon
Bojo when London Mayor closed many London Fire stations,
then when Grenfell went up in flames the local fire station was closed.
Tories have a lot to answer for.
I agree. Central government will blame the council but the council is strapped for cash because the central government grant has been slashed. 85% of expenditure goes on statutory responsibilities (Children and Vulnerable Adults) leaving very little to pay for everything else. The responsibility for this lies squarely at the door of the Tory government in Westminster and if anyone thinks otherwise please would they explain.
Seems like there are no safety concerns with this as they don’t have fires in East Cowes apparently.
It is said that the reason for the closure is the state of the fire station itself which is said to have fallen into a state of disrepair
This is what happens when the uk fire service chooses to focus on diversity, rainbow flags, banning the word fireman, wasting time and money on being transgender and non binary inclusive and whining about workplace culture, instead of making sure that the infrastructure is fit for purpose and has the required funds allocated to it.
How much does all this diversity cost? Very little – it is just a smokescreen for the lack of central government funding imposed by the current government. The Tories rely on this sort of bigotry to mask their own greed.
drivel marcus – ensuring that the best people for the job are employed and maintaining a meritocracy, as well as staff spending time on ensuring the building is fit for purpose, rather than attending diversity workshops, painting the fire engines in rainbow colours and holding meetings about workplace culture is not bigotry.
The majority of this country do not buy into all this diversity drivel – remember DEI stands for Didnt earn it
I remember the last 2 labour goernments, I think the incoming one will be disappointing too. It doesn’t matter who’s in power, nothing will change much for the better, unfortunately.
They can come across on the floating bridge….oh wait.
I bet seely wont say a word about this,he is more concerned with joining book clubs and writing letters that go nowhere,considering its his shite party that are slaughtering emergency services and the nhs,he will probably hide.
oh hold on!
he will probably “welcome” it.
So paying more for the service yet getting less for our money sound about right
If it’s for repair or replacement fine but unlikely. Bembridge is open and has no Firemen to use it for the last 5 or 6 years. Yarmouth is much the same unmanned but hey these managers clearly know what they are doing .
Plus retained crew levels are nowhere near what they use to be.
Newport fire station isn’t in great shape either.
Can people please remember all these failings when the General Election is called. Lack of investment anywhere, dodgy deals with their mates during lockdown, lies, and false truths about the economy recovering, Voter ID’s, possible law to allow snooping on everyones bank account, etc etc
I don’t know what the next incumbants will do, but they have to be better than the rich, pompous dwellers in Government at the moment!
Unless you’re prepared to pay around 65% income tax,nothing will change.
Well pay more for less again in this country, bet the people making the decisions live within minutes of a fire station?? A decent sized town with main route to the main land, only one road in and out, some large factories and some heritage sites. But no it’s ok let’s remove some vital life saving resources!! Time to stand up to this lot elected councillors of East Cowes and show us what your made of and how we will recover the tax back we pay for this service.
Isle of Wight Fire Service is now under the control of Hampshire , so East Cowes is covered by a mainland Fire Service . so no worries there .
we were warned about this take over by Hampshire, no one heeded the warnings & look what is happening, a systematic dismantling of our once IW Fire Service, the writing is on the wall, this station will not re-open & any emergency response will be sent from Newport, you mark my words!
LOOK… just put a fixed bridge across EAST AND WEST Cowes, the middle could open just enough to let a boat through and they could pay.
It would address many problems including this problem.
Doesn’t even need to be in Cowes / east cowes either but upstream, which would stop the gridlock on copins bridge and fairlee road.
This would help massively for the Ambulance service if there was a bridge at the very top end of the industrial park.
You could knock down East cowes fire station sell the land and build a multi purpose unit near the new college building on the outskirts and share with other emergency services.
They cannot even fill a pothole properly on this Island, yet alone build a bridge.
They talked about this years ago. The problem was, they spent a fortune on feasibly studies and so long talking about it, the cost spiralled and new type of floating bridge seemed a cheaper option. They didn’t envisage the problems of today and in hindsight a fixed link would have been cheaper. In my opinion, they should write off their investment in the floater and build a bridge but they’ll never go for that, but continue to throw money at the blue and white elephant until everything works right. How long is a piece of string? 😮
With respect to those that died, but let’s think again about the fatal fires in Bembridge – next to a closed fire station, Brading – delayed response due to a fire large elsewhere, and this week Brighstone. Brighstone is different I guess as no station nearby, but all three show that delays in a fire response kills! Re-locating, even temporarily, to Newport will risk lives. I’m sure there is somewhere they can use as a base within the East Cowes area that will then ensure that, as the ‘manager’ said…. Their focus is protecting the public!
Haven’t we all just been screwed extra on our council tax to maintain the fire service, so where’s that money gone?
There’s nothing wrong with this building a good builder couldn’t sort out it’s just excuses.
They must think we are stupid.
I don’t understand how our fire service costs hundreds of thousands more,yet we get a poorer service and lives put at risk, moving in with Hampshire has made all services worse from Police, Education and fire service. Should never of been allowed.At least children’s services has quit Hampshire. We used to have an efficient police service where you could call them and speak to control and unit with you in minutes, now you lucky they answer phone in 20mins or you have to stop everything you doing and waste time on line. I’m sure East Cowes fire station is not about to collapse ?. Anyone remember we had white fire engines?.Watch as in next few day’s – the east Cowes arsonist will return.
TBF this station is falling down and has been for some time.
What a stupid idea. !!!!
Mainland managers not having a clue about the lay of the land!
wake up! smell the coffee, the big wigs in Eastleigh are back scratching narcissists, it’s all about jobs for the boys, how many senior officers from the IW progressed under the new regime? none! they built new stations at Redbridge, Havant & Basingstoke, how many were built here? none! the chief of the IW was put out to pasture, & now island stations close, & you all cry foul! dear oh dear!