Every Breath you take, Every move you make

Huw says "No Risk", his Deputy disagrees and says there is risk

Time to give you a brief update on what is happening in our campaign to Save Blaina Fire Station from closure and my thoughts on the matter - for what they are worth.

Well those thoughts and the information on this site must be worth something, because the statistics continue to rise on our website, despite not publishing anything for a few days - that is new readers catching up on previous articles and learning the truth about the inaccurate and flawed Fire Service proposal.

To be honest, any sane and rational person reading the proposal, would think it was some kind of sick joke, instead of a serious piece of work.

Well the game is starting to get interesting.

Huw Jakeway, the Chief Fire Officer crept into Blaina to meet up with the Fire Crew at the station last Wednesday.

I said crept, because he does not have the courage to come to town and face the people whose lives he seeks to endanger by his bizarre plans to close down a Fire Station that has saved £5.4 million for the nation in just a few weeks.

With Huw was his parrot, ACFO Thomas, who you remember was the person who callously acknowledged that closing Blaina Fire Station would lead to increased risk to local communities, although according to him (or his master rather) the risk would not be "significant".  So how many lives have to be lost to be considered "significant" by this bean counter?

They were given a warm welcome by the Fire Crew who left the mad, job axe-men in no doubt as to what they thought of their ideas to close down their Fire Station and endanger the lives of their families and friends whose community they serve so well.

More research work as gone on behind the scenes by various individuals who will be submitting their findings to the Fire Authority, that is chaired by Bargoed Councillor Tudor Davies, to assist in their deliberations and I can tell you this now, it is blockbuster information and should the Fire Authority ignore the multiple reports showing why Blaina Fire Service should be saved, then the world press is going to be banging on their doors asking why?

Tonight, between 16:00 and 20:00, Tuesday 29 October, the Fire Service snake oil salesmen will be in Asda's attempting to convince people that closing at least 20% of Blaenau Gwents fire stations is a good idea and not an insane one.

If you go, ask the Fire Service salesmen, how they can justify closing down a fire station that has saved £5.4 million in just a few weeks to save £222,000 makes sense.

Now you have been told already that less than 50% of Blaenau Gwent have internet access, so you will be amazed to learn that thanks to the efforts of those campaigning to save Blaina Fire Station, we have already managed to get over 3,000 surveys filled in online and collected by hand.

Well done to all involved.  That is an achievement that you should all be proud of.

Last night, Blaina Fire Crew attended an incident in Club Row, Blaina in under five minutes, where they successfully extinguished a car fire before it could take hold, spread to a connected caravan and nearby houses.

The Fire Crew, were warmly thanked by the vehicles elderly owners and then moved the car to a location where it could be looked at later today.

Make no bones about it.  If Blaina Fire Station had not been there to respond so quickly, then we could have been reading about a major fire today with possible loss of life.  Think about it.

Today, Blaina Fire Crew responded to a call in Abertillery where an alarm in an old age pensioners home had been triggered.  Fortunately there was no fire but Blaina arrived one minute behind the really excellent Abertillery Fire Crew, who were reassuring the local community that all was well by the time Blaina arrived.  Abertillery and Blaina Fire Crews - The Dream Team.

Now you would have to be a monk in a monastery not to have picked up on the not so secret plans to privatise the Fire Service, but what you probably do not know are the efforts taken by the government to try and keep the lid on this open secret.

A gentleman by the name of Mike Smart, in an attempt to find out more details about this secret plan, had his Freedom of Information request refused by the House of Commons with these weasel words.

Although we do hold the information requested, an exemption from the requirement under section 1(1) (b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to disclose this information is required under section 34 (Parliamentary privilege) of the Act in order to avoid infringing the privileges of the House of Commons.  The privileges of the House of Commons include the right of its select committees to make their own decisions as to whether, how and when to publish such letters which form part of the proceedings of the Committee. This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.

Now I want to tell you about our enemies - anyone who endangers the lives of those I love and myself, I class as enemies and so should you.

These people, within the Fire Service have attended courses that train them to "Lead without Authority" and teaches them that the end justifies the means.  Well boys be advised:

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you

I have now identified personally, over 20 senior fire officers in Wales alone, who share a Common Purpose,  where according to the BBC, courses cost as much as £5,750.

Now for those of you wondering what happens if the Fire Authority accepts the proposal, well I can tell you.

We then turn into Legal Eagles and drag them through the courts in the same way that many other Fire Stations are in the process of doing around the UK.  The most notable being  Windsor Fire Station, where the land their station sits on is worth millions if privatised. 

So show your support for the fight against the privatization of our Fire Service and sign this petition now, where there are already over 116,000 signatures.

Finally, and this is most important.

There are only five fire stations in Blaenau Gwent and so we should now be coming together to fight the proposal as a united force.  I urge representatives of the different stations to start communicating with each other.

Now my heart aches for our firefighters who are expected to carry on, despite being betrayed by their leaders which reminds me of that saying about our solders during the first world war: Lions led by Donkeys.

Be you a resident, a full time firefighter or a retained one, we are all brothers in arms and should all know that the flames do not care which we are.

United we stand, divided we fall.