One after the other, speakers at a public meeting condemned the plans put forward by Steve Myers to rely on hard-working retained or on-call firemen to answer emergency calls, with the risk of increased call-out times and not enough retained firemen to cope.
"If the current system works so well, why change it?" asked one of the more than 70 members of the public, town councillors, traders and firemen who turned up for the meeting at Haslewey last Friday night.
And it appears that Haslemere's county councillor, Christine Stevens, has had a change of heart over the controversial proposals for Haslemere Fire Station.
While supporting Surrey Fire and Rescue's plans at a Haslemere Town Council meeting last month to balance emergency 999 calls with more protection and prevention measures, Mrs Stevens said after Friday's meeting that the plans left "serious questions about the consistency of fire and rescue cover proposed for Haslemere itself".
The proposals, which are part of Integrated Risk Management plan (IRM) and due to be implemented in April next year, are still out for consultation. That comes to an end in January and Surrey County Council's decision-making executive committee will decide in March whether to go ahead.
The decision, said Mrs Stevens, will be "onerous and important".
But she continued: "I will not vote for a level of risk which puts local lives in jeopardy. This public meeting has openly confirmed the evidence I need to pursue this further and I intend to, with vigour."
Time after time the meeting, chaired by Jeremy Hunt, the South West Surrey prospective parliamentary Tory candidate, heard of people's fears for the service which, after April under the IRM plan, would be manned by full-time firefighters from 7 am to 7 pm, Monday to Friday, and on-call firemen for the rest of the time.
He said after the meeting: "I came away completely convinced on the proposed degradation of the service and reduction of response times, and we shall be seeking an urgent meeting with the leader of SCC to convey the strong feelings of people of Haslemere.
"We will be doing everything we can and shall strongly urge him to listen to local people and not to introduce these measures when the final decision is taken," said Mr Hunt.
Many paid tribute to the work of the core of retained firemen, nine in total, a number put at 12 by Mr Myers, but expressed their doubts whether more on-call firefighters could be recruited.
Fire statistics also didn't add up, with Mr Myers quoting fewer emergency callouts than Richard Jones the Fire Brigades' Union representative.
And there were also worries from traders in Wey Hill concerned for their businesses. These had suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage by an arsonist, and which has led to an appeal for information by the fire brigade.
Despite Mr Myers's assurances the IRM plan would lead to the modernisation of the fire service, safer communities, prevention of fires, and the possible saving of of lives as well as the more effective targeting of resources, the audience was not convinced.
To loud applause, the president of Haslemere Chamber of Trade, Melanie Odell, said that as a commuter town Haslemere did not want to be at risk during the evenings and weekends. She spoke of the "excellent retained and full-time fire crews" in the town and declared: "Haslemere is being penalised for being successful - we need our full-time crews."
Mr Myers said following the meeting that he had not been surprised by the general mood.
"In some respects the people still remain to be convinced but it doesn't change my mind about the proposals," he said.