YOU will wait at least twice as long for a fire crew to arrive if cuts to the service go ahead.

This is the message from Broadway’s retained firefighters campaigning to keep their village station open.

Kerry Jones, Dave Eyres and Gary Thompson have stepped forward as both residents and retained firefighters to call for other villagers to back them in their fight against proposed cuts to Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

The proposals form the Community Risk Management Plan, seek to address an annual budget shortfall which rises to £4.7 million within three years.

Proposal three is the concern for the Vale as it sees either the closure of Broadway station or removing one engine from Evesham.

Miss Jones said: “We think proposal three should be thrown out. The people of Broadway will be looking at 15 minutes plus response times. At night time when their whole time response teams have gone home and they are on retained you are looking at plus 20 minutes.

“It is the difference between five minutes and over 15. The difference between losing one room in your house or your house, or your life.”

The saving for closing Broadway station would be £97,700 in the first year increasing to a saving of £102,500 in the second year, while removing one fire engine from Evesham would save £97,400.

But the firefighters say that if the service was allocated the same money by central government as others in the country, the cuts would not be necessary.

Mr Eyres said: “Hereford and Worcester is one of the lowest funded brigades in the country. We get £14 per head, the average is £20.”

The three are appealing to local people to support the Save Broadway Fire Station campaign.

Miss Jones added: “We don’t want any of the cuts. It is important for people to know that this is happening.”

To have your say visit hwfire.org.uk/consultation or facebook.com/pages/ save-broadway-fire-station.