* These FAQs will be updated throughout the process
Why is DWFRS proposing changes to fire stations and fire engines at all?
We know that proposing fire station closures will not be a welcome decision for our communities or staff.
However, the Fire & Rescue Authority has a statutory duty to set a balanced revenue budget. Our underlying funding position, specifically the recent finance settlement received from central Government, does not provide a sufficient level of funding for the Service to continue to operate as it is.
Throughout this process, we have challenged ourselves and scrutinised the data to ensure we are doing the right thing based on the resources we have. Our initial analysis of all fire stations considered:
- the demand placed on stations by incidents; and
- the community impact of fire station removal, including:
- the travel time to the next nearest Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service station,
- proximity to a full time/wholetime duty station,
- non-removal of two neighbouring stations
This identified eight stations for further review. We then used data from the most recent complete five years to consider:
- the financial impact of closing the fire station;
- how busy the station is;
- how quickly and how often the station is able to respond to incidents;
- how could other fire engines nearby respond to these incidents;
- existing and possible future risk in these communities; and
- how we meet the changing needs of the community.
Which stations are you proposing to close?
We’re suggesting to the community the possible closure of eight fire stations, four in Dorset and four in Wiltshire. These are:
- Bradford on Avon
- Charmouth
- Cranborne
- Hamworthy
- Maiden Newton
- Mere
- Ramsbury
- Wilton
Who decided which options to consult on?
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Authority is the public body responsible for overseeing and funding of our service. The Authority consists of 18 councillors from the four local authority areas we serve – Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP Council), Dorset Council, Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council. The Authority is legally required to provide a fire and rescue service to the communities of Dorset and Wiltshire. They do this through your Fire and Rescue Service, which they oversee.
They have to continually scrutinise and review the Service to make sure it works well, makes best use of public money, and runs smoothly.
Any decision for station closure is a Fire Authority decision and is subject to public consultation. A small number of Fire Authority Members formed a Members’ Working Group, made up of:
- the Chair of the Fire & Rescue Authority (Cllr Clare Weight),
- the Vice Chair of the Fire & Rescue Authority (Cllr Paul Oatway),
- the Chair of each Local Performance and Scrutiny Committee (Cllrs Paul Sample, Abdul Amin, Duncan Sowry-House and Paul Hilliard), and
- the Chair of the Finance and Audit committee (Cllr Kevin Small).
The Working Group have been reviewing the data and information about our stations and recommended to the full Authority that we should go to public consultation on the possible closure of eight fire stations.
Will it take longer for fire engines to attend emergencies?
We do recognise that there will be an increase in the response times to some emergencies. More detail on the impact to response times at each station can be found in our Consultation document.
How much money does DWFRS need to save?
Please see the table below:
| 2026-27
£m |
2027-28
£m |
2028-29
£m |
|
| Total funding | 79.503 | 82.045 | 84.506 |
| Estimate net expenditure | 80.710 | 83.515 | 86.211 |
| Budget surplus (+) / deficit (-) | -1.207 | -1.470 | -1.705 |
Station closures are not going to solve all our financial problems. This work is part of a wider programme of Resourcing & Savings, which is helping us to ensure we have the right resources in the right place to face our changing risks.
Have you considered cutting non-operational roles to find these savings?
Yes. Every year, Heads of Department conduct a review of their functions and resources through the succession planning process. This means our corporate departments are constantly reviewed to ensure they are providing best value for public money.
Across the last three financial years, £0.665m of savings have been taken from non-operational roles across our corporate departments and through restructuring our Prevention teams. In the same period, £0.122m of additional income generation ideas have also been implemented and, in 2025-26, £0.750m of savings were taken from non-staffing budgets across the Service. Savings can and have been taken from any area, and any opportunities for efficiencies will be considered.
What other options have been considered to find these savings?
This work is part of the wider Resourcing & Savings Programme (RSP), which is helping the Service to ensure the right resources are in the right place to face changing risks – which includes scrutinising all ways of working across all areas of the Service. Some of this work has been to find savings and some to reinvest in priority areas.
Over the last three years, savings include £665k from corporate roles, £750k from non-salary budgets, £389k from on-call ‘second away’ fire engines, £874k from wholetime posts, £145k savings from our approach to automatic fire alarms, and £122k from Treasury management. This has enabled us to invest approximately £1.2m in areas of greater risk, improving our Service to a higher number of residents and visitors to Dorset and Wiltshire. This included adding 12 wholetime posts at Amesbury fire station; Dorchester fire station becoming day duty; and Westlea fire station becoming a wholetime station. We have also been able to add additional firefighter posts in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
Since the combination of Dorset Fire & Rescue Service and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2016, a total of £15.1m has been saved from the annual revenue budget. This is published in the productivity and efficiency plan available on the DWFRS website. At combination, we maintained all 50 of the previous services’ fire stations. We have now taken the time to review the data that we have available about our response as one Service. The data identifies the eight stations as having the lowest corporate impact across our organisation, should they be closed. We feel this might be the right thing to do, to make the best use of public money.
The Fire & Rescue Authority has not made a final decision on these proposals. We want your views on these proposals so that we can understand what is important to you, what our focus should be, and how we can meet our future financial challenges.
What if you are given more money to reduce or remove the deficit?
We know that proposing fire station closures will not be a welcome decision for staff or communities. We recognise the importance of fire cover to our communities and the impact that any changes may have.
This is why, alongside this station review project, the Service is continuing work that looks carefully at risk, demand, and long-term sustainability. Taking this into account, the Authority must also ensure that the funding available is used in the right areas, rather than solely to maintain legacy arrangements. If the financial position improves through a reduced deficit or additional base budget funding, the Authority will seek to invest this funding where it is most needed, and where it delivers the best value and outcomes for our communities.
What data have you used to come to this decision?
The reports that were considered by the Fire Authority at their meeting on 10th February 2026, are available here.
Please also see response to ‘Will it take longer for fire engines to attend emergencies?’
The data used is from the last five complete years that were available when the work began (April 2019- March 2024). This data represents 67,000 real incidents mapped out across Dorset and Wiltshire. All attendances were then calculated for these incidents based on the current crewing models across the Service (including the removal of ‘second away’ fire engines). The reason 2025 data is not included is purely because the data was not available when the work started. 2019-2024 represented the most recent complete set of five years’ worth of data.
Data from 2019-2024 includes the pandemic. Why didn’t you remove this year?
The data from 2019-2024 represents 67,000 real incidents mapped out across Dorset and Wiltshire. All attendances were then calculated for these incidents based on the current crewing models across the Service (including the removal of ‘second away’ fire engines). The lockdown period started in March 2020 and continued intermittently until March 2021. The pandemic did lead to a temporary drop in total attendances, particularly during periods of strict lockdown; however, this was followed by a resurgence as restrictions lifted and demand normalised. This included incidents like Wareham Forest. For some stations, the year 2020 was busier than 2019, and it was also busier than 2021 and 2022.
The reason 2025 data is not included is purely because the data was not available when the work started. 2019-2024 represented the most recent completed set of five years’ worth of data.
Why is data not included when a fire engine was sent as relief?
Relief appliances are planned ahead of being required at incidents. The decision on which appliance goes as a relief is based on multiple factors including, but not limited to; availability, time spent at an incident already, and any specialisms required. The data focuses on the risk covered by each station, not on other station areas as would be indicated by attendance at incidents where the appliance would be third or greater appliance in attendance.
The Service has target times for the first and second appliance at certain incidents. DWFRS sends two fire engines to house fires as a standard response, occasionally, a third fire engine or more may be mobilised at the discretion of the Service Control Centre, Incident Commander or where people may still be in the property. The Service response standard for all house fires and any building where there is a sleeping risk is based on two fire engines responding within a given time. This standard is approved and scrutinised for performance through the Fire Authority and is standard practice across the UK.
Included in each station review is the information on all of the incidents that a fire engine has been mobilised to, this includes incidents where it was the third fire engine to respond or more, and the data also includes where the fire engine was used as a relief crew to support dealing with a protracted incident. By doing this, we understand the number of times the fire engine has been called upon for use across the Service and how many times it has been used to respond to incidents in their own community. This information is included within each review paper (Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Fire and Rescue Authority)
Why are specialist vehicles not included?
Each station review includes a section on any special appliances at that station. There are no requirements for special appliances to attend incidents within any set periods of time.
Occasionally, a fire engine may be unavailable due to the crew being utilised on a special. This is why the modelled data is important, as any incidents that occur whilst the fire engine was unavailable, including crewing another vehicle, are still ‘credited’ to that station.
If a station were to close that has a specialist appliance, a separate project would be undertaken to place that special appliance at another station.
Why is an external company involved in the consultation process?
To ensure the independence of the process, we have commissioned Premier Advisory Group to run the consultation on our behalf. Premier Advisory Group will provide the Fire & Rescue Authority with an independent report so we can review all responses, before the full Fire Authority makes the final decision on any closures at our meeting on Tuesday 30 June 2026.
If you need any of the consultation information in another format or language, or need help taking part (including a postal copy of the survey) please email [email protected] or call 01722 691000 (office hours).
Is your decision-making based on resources available from neighbouring Fire & Rescue Services?
Under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, a fire and rescue authority is required to make provision for firefighting and related emergency response within its own administrative area, in this case the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire. Its primary legal duty is to assess risk and ensure appropriate fire cover for the communities it serves within those boundaries. While fire and rescue services may provide assistance to neighbouring authorities through mutual aid arrangements, this support is discretionary and does not replace the statutory responsibility of each authority to provide adequate fire cover for its own area.
The Service shares borders with neighbouring Services including Avon, Devon & Somerset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Royal Berkshire. Mutual aid agreements are in place to cover Sections 13 and 16 of the Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004, which allow each Service to request resources from neighbouring areas during times of high demand. These arrangements are further supported by National Resilience provisions.
The Service is committed to working with neighbouring fire and rescue services and is prepared to respond to cross-border incidents. However, as a Fire & Rescue Authority, we are only able to base our Community Risk Management Planning on our own stations, data, risks and communities.
Due to this, the response modelling has therefore incorporated only DWFRS appliances attending incidents within the DWFRS area. The data does however use actual mobilising records to assess the impact on cross-border mobilising.
How can I give my views and how will they be used?
The public consultation is the opportunity for staff and members of the public to give their views on these proposals. There will be public meetings, online forums and a consultation survey where you can express your views. These can all be found here.
Premier Advisory Group, the independent consultation company, will provide the Fire & Rescue Authority with an independent report so we can review all responses, before the full Fire Authority makes the final decision at our meeting on Tuesday 30th June 2026.
What will you do with the stations that are closed?
As part of our approach to estate rationalisation, each site would be considered as part of this. Where the Service seeks to sell a site, work will be undertaken to look at the best options for doing this. Any sale of a site will provide a one-off capital receipt for the Service.
If a station closes, what will happen to the vehicles at the station?
The Service cascades vehicles around the Service to ensure that each is well used across its lifetime. These vehicles will be looked at as part of our cascade programme and the Service will remove the oldest/most used vehicles. These vehicles are sold through the appropriate routes.