OUR emergency services are vital to keeping us all safe, and, as more than 3,000 people signing a petition against cuts to fire crew staffing levels, this has never been a more important time to throw our support behind them.
Balancing the books for the fire service can never be an easy thing, so it is perhaps no surprise that in this situation, where the service faces pressure to save money, it has to make difficult decisions.
This is very much a situation where they are caught between a rock and a hard place.
They could decide to keep permanent full-time fire crews manning the fire stations across the country but, as with so many similar stories, this would involve having to save money elsewhere on something else.
Being in charge of policy for such an important organisation must be a daunting task, knowing that your decisions could well impact on the lives of anyone in the region.
In the end, it will be interesting to see what, if any impact on the fire consultation is made by this petition, and if there can be a resolution which satisfies all parties.
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