THE mayor of Holsworthy has expressed his delight after it was confirmed there would be a reprieve from the impending plans to axe the fire co-responder service.

It had been announced that South Western Ambulance Service Trust (SWAST) was planning to end its contract with the fire service to respond to some emergency category one calls in favour of using volunteer first responders.

Announcing the news, mayor of Holsworthy Cllr Jon Hutchings said: “It would appear that we will be keeping our fire co-responders. At a meeting of the Devon County Council health and adult care scrutiny committee the fire co responders were discussed again.

“The report from South West Ambulance Trust was discussed and it appears that the trust have backed down from phasing out the fire co-responders, at least until they have sufficient community responders in place.

“Going by their recent recruitment across the trust this will take a minimum of eight years, so we can still feel safe for now at least. I want to take this opportunity to everyone across the county who stood up to keep our fire co-responders. Also, a huge thank you to all our firemen and women who do an amazing job keeping us all safe.”

SWAST did not respond to a request for comment.