East Sussex Fire Authority said the station in Mayfield, which relies on on-call firefighters, is the lowest-activity station in the service.
It has now made the decision to shut the station for good.
The decision follows a twelve-week public consultation on a range of options, which attracted 642 responses.
The debate covered Mayfield’s contribution to overall service risk reduction and resilience, and proposed arrangements for maintaining public safety in the Mayfield station area.
The authority said the risk profile of the Mayfield station area has remained consistently low and incidents that have occurred in the area over the last two years have mostly been attended by neighbouring stations.
Last year, the crew was only able to respond to six per cent of emergencies rather than the 50 per cent target.
This is because there needs to be at least four members of a crew available for the fire engine to go out and the service did not have enough on-call firefighters available at the same time.
This decision means Mayfield Fire Station will be sold and the money reinvested in the service’s capital programme such as station improvements and investment in fire engines.
The fire engine from Mayfield will be used as a spare appliance where required and the staff budget will be reinvested in operational firefighters.
Chairwoman of the Fire Authority Amanda Evans said: “We want to personally thank the community for their involvement in the consultation process and for sharing their views. It is never easy to make these decisions, however, it is vital that the Fire Authority considers all the evidence and focuses on how East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service can best serve the public and reduce risk, within its budget.”
Chief Fire Officer Dawn Whittaker said community safety will “always” be the authority’s priority.
“We will continue to reduce risk, whether through campaigns, events or home safety visits, by engaging with residents in the Mayfield area,” she said.
“We will continue to send the nearest available resources to any emergency.”
The service will now develop its planning for the closure of the station and other arrangements.
