FIREFIGHTERS have voiced serious concerns over proposals for a reorganisation of the service. Cleveland Fire Brigade proposes mothballing one fire station, operating fewer fire engines and moving 66 frontline firefighters to home visits and fire prevention work.

Hartlepool's Headland would be covered from the town's Stranton fire station, where two of the present three appliances would be crewed.

Stranton's third appliance and the single engine based at the Headland station would be kept in reserve while the Headland base focuses on fire prevention.

The numbers of firefighters at stations in Redcar and Thornaby would be reduced while a hydraulic platform in Stockton - one of two operated by the brigade - would be mothballed.

Middlesbrough's waterside Marine station would only be operational from noon to midnight.

Chief fire officer John Doyle said safety would not be compromised, rather appliances would arrive at the scenes of fires quicker.

He said: "The changes we are proposing in the Safety Improvement Plan will not compromise response times to incidents, nor will jobs be lost or stations closed."

The changes, which follow a year-long investigation, will be the subject of a 12-week public consultation, with the hope that they will be introduced from April.

One result of the planned £1.9m service shake-up would be the regular sight of firefighters going about fire prevention visits. The brigade plans to increase the number of home fire safety checks to 25,000 a year.

Steve Watson, Fire Brigades Union secretary for the brigade area, said firefighters were only told of the proposed changes yesterday, but are already worried.

He said: "We have serious concerns about the proposed changes in operational cover, but we will be considering the proposals very closely.

"We support the concept of prevention and protection, but not at the expense of operational response."