As a long-serving firefighter currently at Preston Circus Fire Station, I have to reply to the recent correspondence about the alleged misuse of its turntable ladder.

The fire service is currently undergoing a massive "modernisation" programme - a euphemism we all now recognise as meaning cuts - and already the level of service is being seriously eroded.

For about 25 years, we have benefited from having a turntable ladder at Brighton and a similar specialist appliance at Hove. Countless rescues and humanitarian acts have been efficiently performed using these appliances over the years, most of them unreported, unsung and of little interest perhaps, except to those people in need.

The £1/3 million appliance at Hove no longer attends any incident at all by order of the Chief Fire Officer. In a year's time, statistics will prove it is not being used and there will therefore be quantifiable evidence to remove it completely. It is expected that eight firefighters' jobs will go along with it.

Similarly, the turntable ladder at Brighton no longer attends Automatic Fire Alarm (AFA) calls received during the daytime. It will only be sent to an address if there is definite confirmation of a fire.

In the heat of the moment, who will have the presence of mind, or who indeed will know, they are required to back up an AFA with a 999 telephone call?

Why is it that the public at large are ignorant of all of this? How is it that we could all have allowed this to happen?

The Chief Fire Officer will tell you that a full consultation process was performed and that everyone had the opportunity to express their concerns at the appropriate time.

The Fire Authority, acting on our behalf, subsequently approved his recommendations.

Your once-fine Fire Service is currently in the process of being torn apart. That is the big story, not the raising of the flag at the Town Hall.

-Name and address supplied