Sleaford fire and ambulance crew leaders talk of excitement as new shared building becomes operational

Hosting around 38 East Midlands Ambulance Service clinicians and 24 fire staff, the station will also be home to the county’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team.

The Sleaford development is the second site in Lincolnshire where two operational crews from different services are co-located under one roof, following the opening of Louth’s joint station last year.

Coun Nick Worth, executive councillor for emergency services at the county council, said: “All of the old facilities were dated and would have required considerable investment to be modernised. The new facilities are excellent, and purpose-built for the needs of the crews.

“There are so many benefits to co-locating services in this way - saving money and building a better understanding of different ways of working. Wholetime and on-call firefighters can train and respond together with ambulance crews, in their community and beyond.”

The drive for co-location is part of the county’s Blue Light Collaboration programme set up between Lincolnshire County Council, Lincolnshire Police, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and EMAS.

Richard Hunter, Lincolnshire division Ambulance Operations Manager at EMAS, said: “Our ambulance crews respond to around 500 emergency calls a day from people in Lincolnshire. We treat patients in their home, at the scene of an incident and on the way to hospital if further care is needed. This means most of our time is spent away from the station.

“Sharing facilities with the fire service is a sensible move that will allow us to invest more in our patient services, and to give colleagues improved facilities for use when they start and end their shift. The added bonus is being able to train and work more closely with our fire colleagues.”

The new £6m site also has new purpose-built offices for staff from Lincolnshire County Council covering a range of different services, who will be moving in in the coming months.

The site replaces the old ambulance station, fire station and county council offices on Sleaford riverside.

Lincolnshire’s Chief Fire Officer, Nick Borrill, said: “The new site will be an excellent base for our USAR team as it’s well positioned to enable quick access to the A17, helping crews to provide technical rescue specialist support right across the county.

“The Red Cross will also be relocating one of their Emergency Response support teams and vehicles to Sleaford improving their countywide response and building on the long-term partnership with Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue.”