Members of Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority were given a demonstration of a road traffic collision extrication - the removal of a casualty from a crashed car - at Aylesbury Fire Station after today's meeting. Click here to see a picture.
25 June 2009
Councillor David Rowlands, pictured above, has been re-elected chairman of Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority. He began his sixth year in the hot seat at its meeting today in Aylesbury.
Members held two minutes’ silence at the start of the meeting in memory of Councillor Pauline Wilkinson, who died at the weekend.
Councillor Rowlands, who lives in Winslow, has been chairman of the authority that runs Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service since July 2004 and a member of the authority and its predecessors since 1993. Fire and rescue came under the remit of Buckinghamshire County Council’s public protection committee until the creation of a unitary authority for Milton Keynes in 1997.
He said: "We are committed to keeping our communities safe from harm. We do this through a combination of the high quality response of our firefighters and a great deal of background work designed to prevent incidents from happening or to reduce their impact.
“You can count on us to respond to your 999 call for help in an emergency, and we are trying harder than ever to reduce the number of emergency incidents in the first place by expanding Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service’s vital fire prevention and fire safety work.
“We are also committed to providing our workforce with the skills, equipment and training they need in today’s modern fire and rescue service.”
Councillor Rowlands is the immediate past Chairman of the South East Fire and Rescue Services Regional Management Board, which comprises representatives of the region’s nine fire and rescue services and the nine local authorities responsible for running them.
He represents Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority on the Local Government Association Fire Forum, and is Vice-Chairman of the Public Transport Consortium for Shire Counties.
Councillor Rowlands was elected to Aylesbury Vale District Council in 1991 and Buckinghamshire County Council in 1993. He entered local government following careers with the Royal Marines and in sales management with Schweppes and other major companies.
Councillor Andy Dransfield was re-elected Vice-Chairman. Councillor Dransfield, who lives in Loughton, Milton Keynes, is a member of Milton Keynes Council.