A FIRE chief has spoken out over fears Dovercourt Fire Station could be shut in an attempt to save money.

David Johnson, chief fire officer for Essex, has revealed the hundreds of thousands of pounds it costs to run the “quiet” station but disputed any cuts would put lives at risk.

Speaking to the Standard Mr Johnson told how almost half of all the calls to the town station are false alarms.

“In the last two years Dovercourt has had 581 calls and of these calls 214 were false alarms,” he said.

“It’s an exceptionally quiet station and it costs £800,000 a year.

“If you compare it to the station at Wickford near Billericay, it’s taking as many calls but only costs £158,000 a year.

“Wickford costs less to run because of different shift patterns.”

Concerns were raised over the future of the Dovercourt Station after it was revealed last week Essex Fire Service would have to cut £7.5million from it’s budget.

It is not yet known where the cuts will fall and how Dovercourt will be affected.

A report which will assess costs of the fire service is due back in September and Mr Johnson said he will need to identify the areas that will be cut the following month.

But because of the short time scale he said it is not possible for the public to be consulted about any changes.

“We are seeking to keep the same number of fire engines,” added Mr Johnson.

“But we are not ruling anything in or anything out until we see the report.”

Lawrie Payne, a retired firefighter, last week said cuts in services could put peoples lives at risk.

But Mr Johnson disputed the claims and said he can’t “envisage” a time when there won’t be a station at Dovercourt and.

He added: “Mr Payne said there has got to be a station in Dovercourt because of the oil refinery and explosives factory.

“But we don’t actually provide fire services for industry specific sites but instead for our community.

“We are here for people who have accidents in their houses and cars.

“We have to find £7.5million of cuts. It’s going to be a challenging and difficult time for our employees and our communities.

“It’s really not helpful for anyone to speculate or speak about contextual information to wind people up.”