THE staff shortages at Holsworthy Fire Station will hopefully be overcome in the next few months, Mr Neil Blackburn, Fire and Rescue Group Commander reported at a meeting of Holsworthy Town Council on Wednesday, December 3.

In October, the council decided to write to the Chief Fire Officer expressing their concerns about staff shortages at the retained station. Deputy Mayor, Becky Bucking­ham had warned: "It's putting lives at risk."

However, at last week's meeting, councillors were assured that the situation was set to improve with five applications being recently received.

Graham Rook, station contact for Holsworthy said there were currently nine individuals employed at Holsworthy. One fire fighter was off sick due to injury and one was on unpaid leave due to work and accommodation problems.

There were three people on call during the day, however four are needed for the appliance to go out. Mr Rook said there were other people in the area who could sometimes be available on call which meant the appliance was not constantly unable to go out.

With eight people available at night, Mr Rook said the station was providing good night cover, which was the "high risk period."

Mr Blackburn also explained that Holsworthy was a co-responder station which meant that two firefighters could be sent out in a van to assist the Ambulance service. In the last year, Holsworthy had responded to over 100 co-responder calls. Mr Blackburn said: "There's a small and very dedicated team at Holsworthy."

Five people had recently applied to join the station. One had been offered a contract and had started the previous night but would not be able to go out with the appliance until the end of March, due to training.

One applicant was at the medical stage, one was at the practical stage, one had only just applied and one had not made it through the written stage.

Mr Blackburn said the long and complex recruitment process was causing problems across the country and not just at Holsworthy but stressed they were treating the town as a "priority."

Mr Rook said that "things are looking up" for Holsworthy but due to the times scales involved in the application process and training "it's going to be another three to four months before things start really getting better."

The Mayor, Cllr David Smith said: "It's good news to know there are people in the pipeline." He said that councillors had been worried about the situation in Holsworthy.

Mr Blackburn offered to return to the council in a few months time to give an update on the staffing levels at the station.