Dicing with death.

The New South Wales state government is taking risky decisions as it desperately tries to balance it's budget.

The strategy of closing fire stations for the remainder of a shift when a crew member calls in sick is simply a bad idea.

The very reason we have so many fire stations and their location in most suburbs is to be capable of a quick response. Fire is a devious enemy. It can be snuffed out easily in the initial few minutes if prompt action is taken, but it takes so little time for that flickering flame to become a raging inferno.

The government is prepared to grant fire fighters a wage increase to match inflation levels, provided no replacement on overtime is rostered to replace a crew member calling in sick. As a result, the affected fire station will not respond to alarms for the remainder of that shift.

That is dicing with death. There will be a response from a fire station in another suburb, but obviously not in the same time frame as from the local station.

In the event that someone loses their life because of traffic delays the outcome will be unacceptable to the public.

It seems that to equate human lives with money saved is not the best decision and will not be applauded by the public.