On Wednesday 4 September Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary will be hosting an event to celebrate the official opening of the new Cosham Fire Station and Police Station.
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NewsTranscript
00:00So Neil, it is the first day that the new fire station is opening, what are your thoughts
00:16on the new facility?
00:18Me and the team are incredibly thrilled with our new fire station here at Cochsham.
00:22It is a state of the art three storey fire station now with lots of modern environmental
00:27features including UV panels and the use of energy is very impressive in terms of efficiency.
00:35Also more importantly for the firefighters, it gives them a state of the art training
00:38facility to make sure we can protect our community even better and they will be protected themselves.
00:43It is important that we look after our firefighters so there are zones in this fire station that
00:47allow them to disrobe and move out of their dirty kit into clean kit and be safe in their
00:51working environment.
00:52It is not something we can do in every fire station yet but we are working really hard
00:55towards that.
00:56You mentioned training facilities and obviously there is a wide array of them so the firefighters
01:01obviously take on different exercises to make sure they are capable for whatever operation
01:05comes up.
01:06Yes, so here at Cochsham now we have state of the art training facilities and around
01:10us we have facilities for breathing apparatus training, so it is dark, there are holes in
01:15the floor which really re-enacts a real fire.
01:18Equally that chamber can be turned into a ship scenario because we are used to fighting
01:22fires and ships in this area around Portsmouth and so the teams really are equipped to make
01:27sure we train them for the things they actually face, including things like road traffic crashes,
01:31car fires, rescues from buildings and high buildings as well.
01:35Do you think the facilities will make the firefighters more efficient so they know,
01:39have an idea of what may occur if they go out on operation do you think?
01:43Hell yes, this is a big investment by the taxpayer so we are making sure we use money
01:46really well so one of the key benefits of this new fire station is the increased training
01:50facilities for our firefighters.
01:52Equally working with police here on the site as well so that idea of collaboration with
01:56our colleagues in the constabulary will make us more efficient, more beneficial to the
02:00community so we can keep them safe.
02:02How much money was put into the new fire station, is it a much needed upgrade for the Cochsham?
02:07So the Cochsham fire station down the road from where we are today was small, we'd outgrown
02:12it and we needed a bigger facility to make sure we could really provide our services
02:16so the investment of £16 million into this new site is really welcome and I'm grateful
02:21to the fire authority and in turn of course taxpayers have put money towards these sorts
02:24of sites.
02:25It's very, very important we keep investing in the Fire and Rescue Service as well as
02:28policing who share our site here today which means we're using public money really well
02:32and sharing sites where we can.
02:34Are the personnel using the new facilities here already, do you think they'll find it
02:38enjoyable working here and ready to get going?
02:40There's nothing that impresses firefighters more, with a new fire engine and a new fire
02:43station and they're very excited about being here.
02:45They will be absolutely excited about the future in this station and I know this will
02:49allow us to protect them which in turn will protect our communities.
02:53Well I am delighted to be here today with this new what we're calling a blue light hub
02:57which is where you have a fire station and a police station working together.
03:01So Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service, Hampshire Constabulary both
03:05having their officers working here at this new site in Cochsham.
03:09As Police and Crime Commissioner three years ago I made a couple of promises to the public.
03:14I said that I would make sure the Chief Constable had the funding to recruit more police officers
03:19and he has recruited over 650 more police officers over the last three years.
03:24Secondly, I promised to open more police stations and to open up front counters where we could
03:29do to connect the public better to their police service.
03:32So this is just another example today of more police stations, more police working in localities
03:37to make communities safer.
03:39For more information visit www.fema.gov