Keep Our Fire Stations Open

The NSW government is planning to close up to 8 fire stations at any one time across Sydney and even more in the regional areas of the state expanding a program that is already threatening lives of our families and friends.

The Government claims that "sick leave" taken by fire fighters is the driving cause of what they call an overtime blowout. Fire Fighters [by calculations which account for extra long shifts 10 - 14 hrs] on average take only 16 hrs more sick leave per year than other "office based" Public Servants. When you consider that there are a range of Illnesses and Injuries that you can still attend an office job but not a fire station, this small difference over a year seems insignificant doesn't it?

So under this plan your local fire station may be closed and you may have to rely on Fire Fighters attending from further away.... I can tell you that waiting for a fire engine when your house is on fire is an uncomfortable feeling; an extended wait would be heart breaking... to say the least.

The Fire Brigade [aka FRNSW] is funded on the following basis;NSW Government contributes 14.6% Local Councils Contribute 11.7% and Insurance Companies contribute 73.7%

Therefore...

The break down of saving goes like this......
Each $1mil cut from the Fire Brigade budget saves the Govt $146,000 the remaining saving goes to :-
Local Councils $117,000
Insurance Companies $737,000

So if the Govt. achieves its target of saving $64,000,000 over the next few years this equates to a saving of :-
$8,600,000 for the Government
and a saving of .... wait for it....
$47,168,000 for the INSURANCE COMPANIES.