THE headline and comments from Cllr Dave Hanratty, chairman of Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority, are at best misleading and certainly disingenuous.

The chief fire officer and MFRA decision to close West Kirby Fire Station is the real reason why people's lives are at risk.

They actually prove this comment is correct in their planning submission.

They give details of two fire incidents in West Kirby.

The first, in May 2014, where the first response was from West Kirby fire station; that crew arrived in under three minutes, the second crew from Heswall arrived in nine minutes, Upton arrived in 10 minutes.

The West Kirby crew saved multiple lives.

Had only the Heswall and Upton crews attended the probability is that there would have been fatalities.

This conclusion is supported by the second case study from March 2016.

Then there was a fire in Boulton Avenue, where two people were killed.

The only crew to attend were from Upton.

It took, at 1.27am, 8.11 minutes to drive the 2.6 miles.

Had a crew from West Kirby been available they would have attended in around 1.30 minutes as the distance is only 0.5 miles.

It is insulting to suggest that the planning committee, the objectors and myself are responsible for putting lives at a risk.

And finally, please inform your readers in West Kirby that it would be advisable to invest in more fire extinguishers, fire blankets, fire doors and to know their routes of escape from their homes or premises as the rate of fire deaths will go by up to 15 per cent.

This will be the true cost of fire cuts.

Dave Ridley by email