There has to be deep concern about plans by the Fire and Civil Defence Authority to decommission the four emergency rescue vehicles which currently operate in West Yorkshire. These vehicles, one of which is based at Idle, are packed with specialist rescue equipment which is rushed to the scene of incidents where it is needed.

The alternative proposed as part of a bid to hack half a million pounds from next year's budget is for ordinary fire engines to carry a proportion of this gear in special "dismountable units". On the face of it, someone has employed some useful lateral thinking to devise a way of getting the equipment to the scene without the expense of sending a separate, dedicated truck.

But there have to be serious reservations about how this will affect the speed of the response. The unit has to be manhandled at the scene of an incident, using up vital minutes, and it will carry less equipment than the special tenders. These are concerns which require a great deal of thought before this cost-cutting exercise is put into effect.

Reassurances from the fire-service are all well and good, but firm evidence is needed that this new system will be able to provide the same standards of safety as the present one. It would be better, surely, to put it to the test, perhaps by operating one of these units in place of one of the tenders for a trial period rather than rushing in and introducing the whole system at once.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.