FIREFIGHTERS have been snubbed by the Town Hall in their bid to win support for a campaign to halt service cuts.
Officers from Euston fire station, who face losing one of their engines, addressed last Wednesday’s full council meeting in a plea for help.
But they left empty-handed as Labour councillors backed a controversial reorganisation plan drawn up by London Fire Brigade.
Under the new proposals, fire engines will be redistributed to London’s outer suburbs to improve response times there.
Euston firefighters say the changes, due in April, could prove disastrous.
Greg Edwards, Fire Brigade Union representative for Camden and Barnet, told the meeting: “We are asking Camden Council to oppose the proposed cut to one of the fire engines. At present you get three fire engines arriving in eight minutes. Two of those come from Euston in five minutes.
“What you will get under the new plan is two fire engines and only one will get there in five minutes. That means five firefighters to deal with incidents until the other engine arrives.”
He added: “Our main argument is the time factor.
“You want the fire engines you have now turning up as quickly as possible. The cuts speak for themselves.”
But the firefighters, despite support from the public gallery, left without any assurances that the council would support their campaign.
Labour community safety chief Councillor Anna Stewart said: “Looking at the proposals in the round, they do seem sensible.
“The plan aims to improve response times in outer London. The report does indicate that response times in Camden would only increase by two seconds as a result of these changes.”
She denied that the reorganisation would cause problems if Camden fell victim to a terrorist attack.
Cllr Stewart told the meeting: “Some of the specialist equipment is better to be located away from the centre, so it could get in quickly if the centre was snarled up with terrorist activity.”