I am a firefighter and am writing to express my displeasure with the recent comments made by the Chief of East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, Des Pritchard (The Argus, January 18) concerning decommissioning the turntable ladder and the reduction in crew numbers as a consequence.

Firstly, the importance of the turntable ladder cannot be overestimated when it comes to saving lives.

Any person hanging out of a high-rise building can only be reached by an aerial appliance, of which there are two - the turntable ladder and the aerial ladder platform.

The plan is there will be only one of these appliances for the whole of the Brighton and Hove area.

Sue Paskins, councillor on the fire authority, said it "was used just three times last year", implying it was not good value for money.

Three times equals three lives.

What if two such occasions happen simultaneously next year when there will only be one appliance to answer the call?

The nearest second appliance would be in Eastbourne or Worthing. Time is not money but lives in this profession. Ms Paskins seems to think she can put a price on lives - potentially on your life.

Des Pritchard dismissed claims these cuts are affecting morale but, clearly, he hasn't been near a station recently as there is outrage among firefighters, not just about cuts to the appliances but about their jobs.

Colleagues who are usually on the rota to be on an aerial appliance are being forced either to move to another station or into office jobs.

This will probably lead to some resignations - whoever joined the fire service to sit at a desk? And the posts will not be refilled, meaning a reduction in firefighters in East Sussex.

Firefighters have lost all confidence in the principal officers and fire authority.

Apparently, taking away the appliance, ultimately leading to a reduction of firefighters, will save lives. This is based on the premise that the reduction of appliances will leave firefighters more time to do community fire safety work - but there are only so many hours one can spend randomly knocking on people's doors, checking their smoke alarms are in working order.

In contrast, there are plans for more high-rise buildings in Brighton and Hove, surely giving more reasons to keep both aerial appliances. I joined the service to save lives, so stop taking away the equipment my colleagues and I need to do the job safely.

I am not the only one considering changing my career (I can hear the cost-cutters rubbing their hands with glee) due to this back stabbing.

The great British fire service used to be world renowned but is now falling into decay and decline where, only a few years ago, the Government praised it for being an extremely efficient and cost-effective service.

-Name and address supplied