LABOUR MP Frank Dobson has waded into the row over cuts at Euston fire station.
Firefighters at the Euston Road base fear the decision to move one of their engines to a station in outer London will lead to slower response times.
Fire officers appealed for backing from Camden Council last month but Labour’s community safety chief Councillor Anna Stewart sent them packing from the full council meeting without a pledge of support. But Mr Dobson, MP for Holborn and St Pancras whose Bloomsbury home is within the Euston station’s area, has taken a different tack.
In a letter to Valerie Shawcross, chairwoman of London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, the MP warned that the changes, part of a reorganisation of the London Fire Brigade, could backfire.
Mr Dobson said he was concerned the overhaul could affect the way a future terrorist attack would be tackled. He also fears similar cuts will affect nearby stations in Clerkenwell and Islington.
Mr Dobson added: “In the event of a major incident there would be three fewer engines close by.
“What sticks in my mind is that, at the time of the King’s Cross fire, the engines from Euston were already out on call and the extra time which elapsed as the engines arrived from Soho may well have contributed to the death of fire officer Colin Townsley.”