Station merger job axe

Twelve firefighters could lose their jobs if plans to shake up West Midlands Fire Service gets the go ahead.Halesowen and Cradley Heath will also lose its overnight cover, as a 24-hour duty crew is stripped back to a 12-hour day shift.

The proposals are part of "improvement plans" announced by the Fire Service in October, which would see four Black Country stations close to be replaced with just two.

The service would close Halesowen, Cradley Heath, Wednesbury and Smethwick stations and build one new station in the Halesowen-Cradley area and another in Wood Green, which is in Wednesbury near to the Walsall border.

It was also revealed last night that the location of the current Halesowen fire station is so poor that the region could do without it altogether.

But at a public meeting organised last night by MP Sylvia Heal, 60 angry residents and firefighters gave the proposals the thumbs down.

One firefighter, James Groves, from Cradley Heath station said: "My concern is the safety of firefighters. I can be sure that if we are on a call Halesowen are there in a very short time."

Group Commander Rory Campbell from the West Midlands Fire Authority said it was hoped any jobs lost "can be recycled back into the service somehow."