WILTSHIRE fire chief Neil Wright is to retire in December, ending 35 years in the fire service, more than half of them in Wiltshire.

Mr Wright, 55, said the time was ripe for him to go, with the national pay dispute over and the more concerns over the manning of the joint emergency services control centre put to rest.

The challenge now facing fire brigades all over the country is the Government's White Paper, which envisages wide-ranging changes in the fire service and which Mr Wright feels requires the efforts of a new chief to confront.

Mr Wright spent six and a half years as deputy to the former chief fire officer, John Craig, and the two men thought so much the same that the changeover in April 2000 was almost seamless.

The White Paper foresees many changes, including cutting down the number of ranks from 12 to seven, and creating a police-style service in which graduates can go on a fast-track promotion line to the top.

But the aspect of the proposed changes that most concerns Mr Wright and his colleagues is the Government's determination to regionalise the service, including the amalgamation of control centres, so that a householder in Devizes making a 999 fire call could be answered by an operator anywhere from Cheltenham to Truro.