The Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority has pushed back a public consultation on the biggest shake-up to emergency fire cover in Kent for 14 years, after more than 200 firefighters marched in protest to its headquarters in Tovil. The authority voted to delay the 12-week consultation, which was due to start on 25 June 2026, and instead set up a cross-party working group to examine the proposals before any final decision.
Under the plans outlined by Kent Fire and Rescue Service, five on-call stations would close — Grain, Wye, Chilham, Westerham, and Cliffe — and attached on-call sections would be removed from wholetime stations at Herne Bay, Deal, Tunbridge Wells, and Faversham. Night-time fire engines would also be relocated from Dartford and Thames-Side to create three additional daytime crews at Strood, Ashford, and Folkestone. Chief Executive Ann Millington said the changes are based on risk intelligence and data analysis and will target resources where they are needed most, while acknowledging that some on-call stations receive fewer than seven emergency calls a year.
The Fire Brigades Union has described the package as a reduction programme presented as modernisation, and its South East chair Tim Green warned that longer travel distances from station closures would directly reduce the chance of survival in certain types of fire. Dartford MP Jim Dickson called the plans poorly thought out, highlighting that cutting nighttime cover from two fire engines to one at Dartford and Thames-Side creates additional risk despite those being among the busiest stations in Kent. The union has not ruled out industrial action.
Government figures show that Kent Fire and Rescue Service attended 18,326 incidents in 2025, a rise of 7.6 per cent on the previous year, with total fires up by 22.7 per cent and outdoor primary fires surging by 67.4 per cent. The service says the nature of risk has changed significantly in the past two decades and the current network of stations no longer matches where and when emergencies are happening. Millington insists the proposals are about spending money in the right ways to tackle our biggest risks, while competing with financial pressures. Authority members will vote again on whether to proceed with the consultation at an extraordinary meeting after the cross-party working group reports back.
The delay gives communities across Kent more time to study the proposals before the formal consultation opens. No date has yet been set for the extraordinary meeting where the authority will decide the next steps.
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