At 10am this morning Lowestoft South Fire Station became operational.
It will seem strange for me not to see all the pumps and specials waiting behind the closed appliance bay doors as I pass the fire station.
The existing Normanshurst Fire Station had been serving Lowestoft for 37 years and before that the station was based at the old house that stood just behind the mess room. I can remember visiting the station on what was probably its very first open day and sitting in the drivers seat of a fire engine. Never did I imagine that some 30 years later I would be driving one of those things for real!
And soon the builders will be moving to this side of the river to start on building the new Normanshurst. Except it won't be Normanshurst, more likely we'll be known as North Lowestoft.
It will be a single bay fire station and is designed to serve North Lowestoft for the next 30 odd years. I'll not get into arguments now as to whether it should have been designed with two bays or any of the other things that will get me into trouble.
I'm just looking forward to seeing the new station being built and moving in sometime in the Summer of 2010.
And for now Normanshurst must be the largest single pump fire station in the UK!
Hi Ian, Will it have any impact on the amount and type of calls you will respond to now the new stations opened? Wayne.
Posted by: Wayne Carlton | Wednesday, 21 October 2009 at 13:32
Hello Wayne, Short answer is - not sure! There will be a drop in number of calls as we now have a smaller turnout area. However, that is a lot of high-risk on our patch - 15 storey block of flats, Birds Eye factory, prison etc.
May get called across the border into Norfolk more as we are the nearest pump to them now.
Think we just have to wait and see how things turn out...
Ian
Posted by: Ian | Thursday, 22 October 2009 at 09:05
Ian,
how many Retained moved from Normanshurst to the new station
Ray Bax Ex Ixworth
Posted by: Ray Bax | Sunday, 25 October 2009 at 11:24
Hello Ray,
None of the retained have moved to the new station. We have got some WDS FF's riding with us as retained and they are on temporary contracts, so these won't be renewed. Likewise, at Lowestoft South, it is likely that in the near future the old Clifton Road crew will be joined by other WDS FF's wanting to give RDS a go too...
Posted by: Ian | Sunday, 25 October 2009 at 11:45