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New fire station planned after old one demolished

HIWFRS The side of a red and yellow Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire engine. A plaque on the side says E. Cowes.HIWFRS

Plans have been lodged for a new fire station on the Isle of Wight after the previous one was demolished due to structural problems.

East Cowes has been without a fire station since May 2024 when it was forced to close due to safety concerns.

Plans for the site in York Avenue, lodged with Isle of Wight Council, also include a new fleet maintenance centre.

East Cowes councillor Karl Love described the plans as a "victory for safety in the making".

Mr Love said: "East Cowes simply cannot be without a fire and rescue station, given our strategic location on a peninsula and with heavy engineering, shipbuilding and an important Island transportation gateway.

"We also have an active power station, a large residential population and marinas."

Google Google Street view of the old fire station. The site is sealed off with wooden s and padlocked metal gates. On the driveway in front of the gates is a red fire service crew van.Google
The old fire station was demolished in September

Mr Love thanked the crew of East Cowes station for "staying strong, unified and loyal to their community".

"It would have been so easy for them to walk away from the service and that would have made it so much harder to campaign to keep this station open," he said.

A design and access statement prepared by Boyle and Summers on behalf of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) said: "Maintaining an operational fire station in East Cowes is essential, as it provides critical fire coverage to the northeast of the Isle of Wight, an area with significant marine, industrial and heritage risks.

The fire service said: "Before combining in 2021, Hampshire and Isle of Wight fire services recorded and reported response times differently. To be more transparent, we now record response times uniformly, including call handling time. This means we aim for a consistent response time of about 10 minutes on average across both Hampshire and Isle of Wight."

The statement said the station was demolished because it was "structurally unsafe, beyond economic repair, and contained asbestos", adding that the Fleet Maintenance Centre at Newport Fire Station had also "reached the end of its economic life".

This story was updated on 21 May 2025.

It previously quoted the fire service planning application which said: "The nearest alternative stations - Newport, Ryde and Cowes - were over 15 minutes away, exceeding HIWFRS's target response time of eight minutes." The fire service says these target times are out of date and its planning application has been amended to reflect this.

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