FIRE incidents are being analysed in Dorset as part of the first major shake-up of fire cover since 1936.

And the outcome could be more fire engines in the county or on the other hand closure of some fire stations.

Dorset Fire and Rescue has been asked to categorise its areas in terms of risks in a bid to determine the time within which firefighters should arr-ive at the scene of incidents.

And the draft criteria states that in rural areas such as Shaftesbury, Gillingham, Cranborne and Verwood, the new acceptable response time for a residential property would be 16 to 20 minutes.

Stations in Christchurch, Redhill, Westbourne and Poole would have up to a maximum of 10 minutes to arrive at a property fire, while Hamworthy, Sturminster Newton, Swanage, Wimborne, Ferndown and Springbourne would have up to a maximum of 15 minutes.

But Chief Fire Officer Martin Chapman insists the review is only in its conception stages and that there'll be widespread public consultation before any changes to fire cover are made. And he is adamant public safe-ty will not be compromised.

"This is based on life risk and evidence of past incidents.

"We won't be looking to put the public or our firefighters at increased risk.

"The standards of emergency response for an area might say be 6-10 minutes, but if we can get there in under 5 we will.

"Eventually we'll come forward with individual proposals as to whether there should be a fire station in a particular area. Fire stations could close but on the other hand we could find ourselves with more fire engines."

An agenda go before Dorset Fire Authority today (Mon Oct 24) reads: "With new legislative requirements to deal with a wider range of life-threatening emergency incidents it is necessary to find a more appropriate method of assessing response to risk."

Members are being urged to support the proposal so that experts can press on with data analysis and consultation.

First published: October 24