PLANS to reform the county fire service will be discussed next week but many proposals still do not have the backing of firefighters.

Fire service managers want to introduce eight community safety vehicles, including those to be based at Malton, Northallerton, Ripon, Richmond and Whitby.

They would be staffed by local firefighters and used to visit schools, work with the vulnerable and work towards reducing deaths and injuries due to accidents in the home and on the roads.

Other proposals include changing the way that aerial platforms are deployed.

They would be manned by the same crews used for regular appliances.

Fire chiefs say the measures, part of the service's integrated risk management plan, would help save 125 lives by the end of 2014.

However, members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) believe the plan could lead to delays in reaching emergencies.

The plan was originally considered in February by the North Yorkshire Fire Authority, which decided more consultation should take place before any decisions were made.

Chief Fire Officer Nigel Hutchinson said yesterday: "We are by no means the biggest fire service in the country but we certainly aim to be the best. To do that, we need to challenge traditional ways of working with innovative ideas that increase community safety and ensure we are at the forefront in terms of implementing best practice initiatives.

"Our new proposals underpin this approach and take account of the views expressed by our staff and the public, as part of the extended consultation process."

Peter Clark, membership secretary for the FBU in North Yorkshire, said the new community safety vehicles could create problems.

He said: "We are not objecting to the whole plan, just certain aspects of it

"If you have to go to a major incident, you may be miles from your station and needing to return. It is a double-edged sword - we need to carry out community safety work, but we also need to be able to carry out intervention when we are needed."

The new package of proposals will be put to the fire authority at a meeting on Wednesday at the training centre in Easingwold.