West Sussex County Council is about to reduce the budget of the fire and rescue service by £1.6m (just under 6% of the existing budget). There’s a consultation process and our own Parish Council will be holding a public meeting at 7:00pm on 10th July immediately before the scheduled PC meeting. If you plan to attend, you should probably read the glossy consultation document [PDF] in advance. Fire nerds will also want to look at the (much less glossy) equality impact report [PDF] in order to learn that the service estimates that the proposed changes will lead to three additional dwelling fire fatalities and £8m in additional property damage costs over the next century.