YOU recall the emergency call-out to Riversdale Road in West Kirby on Saturday, May 17, in which five people were rescued from an electrical house fire.

As one of the people rescued from the balcony on the secondfloor, words cannot express my gratitude.

I was, perhaps, one minute from succumbing to the smoke when I escaped onto the balcony in the nick of time before the fire brigade arrived to help me down.

Bluntly speaking, you saved my life, my mother’s life, my grandmother’s life and the lives of those in the flats below.

Prior to the fire, there was no other feasible escape route other than a sheer drop of nine metres.

Any team members reading this cannot fail to remember the thick, black and noxious nature of the smoke and how close we came to suffocating in the blaze.

Each and every one who came to our aid that night was a credit to their profession.

The faultless professionalism of Mersey Fire and Rescue personnel from West Kirby, Heswall and Greasby fire stations was self-evident in all stages of the rescue and recovery process.

It deeply saddens me that the government sees it fit to make cuts which may eventually force the merging of the three fire stations.

As far as I’m concerned, you cannot put a price, no matter how expensive, on the life of a human.

It is my intention to start a petition against the closure and merging of fire stations.

It is my utmost hope that something positive can come of this situation regarding our emergency services.

Tamhas Woods, West Kirby