Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) is preparing to launch a 12-week public consultation on major restructuring proposals aimed at tackling shifting modern risks, such as wildfires, whilst managing tightening financial pressures.
Subject to approval by the Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority, the consultation will begin on Thursday, 25 June 2026.
The cash-saving proposals include closing five standalone on-call stations in Grain, Wye, Chilham, Westerham, and Cliffe. KFRS data shows these sites experience lower demand, and the service maintains that nearby stations can safely cover these areas. Additionally, the service plans to remove the attached on-call sections from four 24-hour wholetime stations in Herne Bay, Deal, Tunbridge Wells, and Faversham, branding the secondary on-call engines there an “over-provision”.
Resource redeployment is also on the agenda and KFRS aims to reduce nighttime engine numbers at Dartford and Thames-Side stations from two to one. This shift will allow the service to reinvest resources and create three additional daytime engines stationed across Strood, Ashford, and Folkestone to meet peak daytime demand.
KFRS Chief Executive Ann Millington emphasised that the plan is about spending money efficiently based on risk intelligence and data analysis. She noted that successful prevention work has significantly reduced traditional fires over the years, allowing resources to be redirected into targeted community safety and more wholetime firefighters. Millington reassured the public that no wholetime stations would close, and no areas would be left without sufficient emergency cover.
Following a month of discussions with firefighters and the Fire Brigades Union, KFRS is now urging local residents to share their views once the 12-week consultation window opens later this month.