A 2-man fire appliance has been transferred from Southsea to Bembridge in a bid to bring the village’s fire station back on the run – more than 2 years after the last firefighters handed in their pagers.

Efforts are underway to recruit new retained firefighters in what is a predominately elderly, second-home area of the Isle of Wight in order to provide adequate fire cover to the village and surrounding areas. You can find out more here.

At present, the nearest fire engines are located in Sandown or Ryde – and the response time of these pumps can be massively affected if 1 of the 2 roads into the village is closed for any reason.

Recognising these challenges, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has taken the decision to introduce a smaller first response vehicle. This requires just 2 firefighters to be on call to respond to an emergency, meaning fewer people need to be recruited in order to get the station back up and running.

The ‘new’ appliance is a Mercedes-Benz van that started life as a Small Fire Vehicle at Southsea. Then, in 2018, it was retrofitted with an Ultra High Pressure Lance (known as COBRA on the Isle of Wight) and transferred to Hightown, before then returning to Southsea. The vehicle has breathing apparatus sets, hydraulic cutting gear and the usual hoses as one would expect.

Bembridge’s full-size appliance – which has now been removed from the station and is a fleet spare – has been unavailable to attend call outs since July 2020. Before this date, the station’s availability was poor with August 2019 dropping to as low as 38%. There have been a number of notable fires in the area in recent years that Bembridge’s pump hasn’t attended including a property fire on Heathfield Road, a shed blaze on Downs View Road and a lightning strike on Egerton Road.

It was back in February of this year that Island Echo reported on the anger of locals after the village’s fire engine didn’t turn out to a fatal flat fire just 100 metres from the station. It took 15 minutes for the 1st appliance to arrive at the scene.

Group Commander Jeff Walls of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has this week told Island Echo:

“Sadly, we don’t currently have enough people to crew a fire engine at Bembridge, despite our ongoing efforts to recruit. Appliances from Ryde or Sandown are available to respond in the Bembridge area and we monitor fire cover across the island at all times.

“A small fire vehicle (SFV) has now been stationed at Bembridge to provide us more flexibility. It can be crewed with a minimum of two personnel for incidents and be operated by firefighters from neighbouring fire stations, as well as supporting prevention activity such as Safe and Well visits and community events.

“I’d urge anyone interested in finding out more about becoming an on-call firefighter, and how you can help protect your local community, to get in touch.”

If you live or work close to the station and are interested in joining the fire service, or would just like to find out more, email [email protected]  or register your interest online by visiting www.oncallfire.uk.

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It was back in February of this year that Island Echo reported on the anger of locals after the village’s fire engine didn’t turn out to a fatal flat fire just 100 metres from the station. It took 15 minutes for the 1st appliance to arrive at the scene. And was anyone prosecuted? NO. This is a service that we pay for out of our wages

so there’s a vehicle at a station with no one to crew it? what a waste of tax payers money!

Give’m a freaking chance !

Try reading it it can be crewed by firefighters from other Isle of Wight stations but does have two retained firefighters for it, but they are appealing for more to come forward to train up “its your village put something back into it”! And as for whingy above 15 mins from Ryde is great going when Island drivers seem to think flashing Blues, and twos behind them means panic, or pull over in the most curious of spots or just not pull over at all!… It is not the firefighters, fault it was shut! Lack of people coming forward armed the upper echelons of fire service with all the bullets they needed to close it down!.

do other full timer stations have enough firemen to man it? probably need to do your research first I’d say. maybe the fire brigade should use some of the big earning managers to man it 9 till 5? no different than working from home!

Firefighters there women in the service!

Improve moral and working conditions and employ more full time fire fighters,stop trying to do on cheap,less managers needed who don’t even know how to operate fire appliances or fight fires. If health or Police fail in their duties can get sued,why not Hampshire Fire. A life already lost just to save money!.

That is good news for Bembridge , just needs some volunteers , but the training will take some time. Do we know if there are 2 Retained firefighters available yet ? I think Yarmouth may have a lack of available crew as well so they may be allocated a SFV as well in time .

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