FIRE chiefs are proposing cutting the number of full-time fire-fighters and replacing some fire engines with “tactical response vehicles”, in proposals which have been criticised by union officials.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue is proposing a number of wide-ranging changes, which include reducing the number of full-time staff, replacing them with part-time, retained fire-fighters and using volunteers. But the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in North Yorkshire has warned the suggested changes will compromise the safety of the public and fire-fighters.

Currently, North Yorkshire has 46 fire engines which need to respond to incidents in five minutes. The fire service says during shifts where retained crew work more than five minutes away from a station, those pumps cannot be used in response to an emergency.

As a result, it is proposing reducing its number of pumps available in five minutes to about 27 and having about 13 pumps available within 15 minutes.

The other cover would be made up by extending the use of smaller vehicles with fewer staff which are commonly used on small incidents such as bin fires. The proposals suggest using these vehicles alongside standard fire engines dealing with larger emergencies.

The fire services is also looking at introducing 12-hour shifts for fire crews and extending the use of volunteers to deal with incidents such as flooding.

Head of risk management for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, Owen Haywood, said: “We anticipate this will deliver some funding savings, but it is really around designing the service for the fewer calls we get. We’ve had more than 30 per cent reduction in demand in the last ten years.

“We’re also getting increasing numbers of severe weather events. We get lots of extra flooding and get quite squeezed at these times and that’s where we’re going to look at the introduction of volunteers.”

But brigade secretary for the FBU in North Yorkshire, Steve Howley, said it was “disturbing” that cuts to frontline services were being proposed ahead of other options such as sharing resources.

He said they were particularly concerned about the use of volunteers.

“To suggest that with as little as four hours training a month they can perform the same role and same tasks as a full-time or retained fire-fighter is absurd.”

The fire service will now consult with staff and unions over the suggestions, before presenting them to the fire authority.