Budleigh Salterton’s fire station will close on Friday (April 3).

In January, the Devon and Somerset Fire Authority decided to close the town’s station as part of its Safer Together consultation on the future of the service.

The fire service said this will mean that the appliance crewed by on-call firefighters at Exmouth will be available more often during the day.

A Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said under the current arrangements, both the Exmouth and Budleigh on-call fire engines are unavailable at times due to lack of crew.

The Budleigh and Exmouth on-call crews have been training together, ‘bringing together their local knowledge and expertise’.

The fire service spokesman added: “We appreciate that losing a fire station will also be a significant change for the community.”

Drop-in events had been planned to talk to residents and explain how the fire service would be serving them in the future, but these have been cancelled due to coronavirus.

Instead, residents living near Budleigh Fire Station will be contacted so they can share their views on the closure and how it affects their safety.

At its meeting in January, the fire authority agreed to the closure of Budleigh fire station and the relocation of Topsham’s fire service to Clyst St George, but deferred a decision on implementing day crewing at Exmouth and Barnstaple.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Pete Bond, director of service improvement, said: “These changes are part of a larger service change programme which will enable us to move our resources to the areas where they are most needed.

“We recognise that people living in Budleigh Salterton may be concerned and we want to be clear that they will continue to receive a response from fire crews in the unlikely event that they need one.”

The fire service said fire engines based at Exmouth can attend incidents in Budleigh Salterton within 10 minutes.

Under the new arrangements, Exmouth station staff will also be able to support activities to promote home safety in Budleigh.

Email safertogetherprogramme@dsfire.gov.uk to ask any questions or raise concerns.