The Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) is inviting people in Canvey Island, Essex, to a drop-in session in February 2026 to discuss plans to change how fire engines are staffed during the day. The consultation was launched on 17 December 2025 and aims to give the community a chance to hear how the service plans to make emergency cover more reliable during the busiest hours of the week.
The proposal involves changing one of the two fire engines at the station from an on-call model to a wholetime (full-time) crew during daytime hours. ECFRS says the second appliance at Canvey Island (and three other sites) is currently available only between 1% and 7% of daytime hours, because on-call firefighters are often at their primary employment.
By placing a wholetime crew on the second appliance during the day, the service says it will strengthen its ability to meet the Community Risk Management Plan target of keeping at least 40 fire engines available across Essex during daytime periods of highest demand. Roger Hirst, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, has set budget proposals linked to the service’s plans and said the changes form part of balancing resources to keep residents safe and maintain quick response capability.
Residents and business owners are invited to take part in the consultation and (subject to ECFRS event details) attend the February 2026 drop-in session to ask questions about how the change might affect local emergency response times. The public consultation runs until 22 February 2026 and was opened for feedback on 17 December 2025; residents can also respond via the ECFRS online survey.
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