I can reassure firefighter Neil Graham that the proposed changes to the crewing arrangements at Shoreham Fire Station is about saving lives - not money, as he contended (Letters, October 11).

Attending fires and incidents in the shortest possible time to save lives and reduce injury will always be an important part of our emergency service.

But the greatest saving of life and reduction of injuries is achieved by stopping fires and other incidents happening in the first instance.

We will be able to achieve this with the proposed new crewing arrangement because it will enable us to carry out more prevention work, such as free home fire safety checks and fitting smoke alarms for those who need them.

Shoreham Fire Station receives a comparatively low number of calls to domestic properties during the night, even less than fire stations such as Littlehampton, which are crewed entirely by retained firefighters.

We can no longer justify crewing arrangements based on standards which were set in the Forties.

What we are proposing is to make better use of our existing resources to reduce the risk from fire in Shoreham, particularly in people's homes, where most of these incidents occur.

I want to reassure the community in Shoreham that the fire service will always be there when needed.

We believe the proposed system strikes the right balance between intervention and prevention.

It will reduce the number of fires and make residents safer.

-Martin Burrell, chief fire officer, West Sussex County Council Fire and Rescue Service