Anyone who has been reading the County Press this past month could be forgiven for thinking our streets are too unsafe to leave home but staying at home could be equally dangerous.

I don’t make light of genuine concern for the resilience of our emergency services but sensationalist headlines can portray the Island in a very negative light.

It is unfair to create such an image given the hard work and professionalism of our police, firefighters, ambulance staff and council officers, who work tirelessly to keep our community safe.

Clearly predicting when and where a crime will be committed or where a fire may break out is impossible, and risk can’t be eliminated. Our emergency services must work to ensure the greater resource is available when the risk is greatest.

To be clear, and to avoid being misquoted, the IW Fire and Rescue service review is designed to match available resources to risk.

We know the risk of fire is greatest during the day with Sunday historically being the busiest day.

Had the service review passed through council in the spring we would have seen more whole-time firefighters and more appliances available at the time of the Sandown hotel fire.

We face a challenge recruiting on-call firefighters. They are rightly proud of the job they do in keeping their communities safe. We can all help support recruitment.

To that end the IW Council has in recent weeks changed its policy to allow staff to become on-call firefighters for the first time in years and I would ask all Island employers to do the same.

We all want the same thing, a safe Island community.

Editor’s footnote: Both fire and police spokesmen outlined to the CP their fears for the safety of Islanders, it wasn’t the CP making things up for so-called sensationalist headlines.