Fire crews are campaigning against brigade cuts in Greater Manchester – which has the highest rate of casualties from house fires in the country.

As revealed by the M.E.N in October nearly every station is to have fewer firefighters on duty as managers try to save £23m over four years.

As a result, brigade bosses have estimated that response times to 999 calls could increase by as much as 10 minutes in some areas and more fire engines would be stood down at night time.

Firefighters have taken to the streets to deliver 15,000 leaflets to homes and shoppers warning them about the impact of the cuts.

Public consultation on the proposals will end on January 23rd.

According to government statistics during 2010/11, three local boroughs had the highest number of casualties at accidental fires in homes.

Manchester had the most, Bolton second, and Rochdale third. Salford was sixth, Oldham eighth, and Tameside 12th.

Paul Foggerty, Fire Brigades Union Brigade Secretary, said: “These statistics are shocking and when the Prime Minister visited Manchester and Salford after the riots in August our Chief Fire Officer pointed out his concern that cuts on such a scale could be envisaged for the county.

“These figures are prior to any cuts being imposed. If they are implemented we have no doubt that the safety of the public and firefighters will be compromised and lives will be lost.”

FBU Brigade Chairman, Gary Keary, said: “Although the FBU accepts that management and the Fire Authority have been left with a difficult task in managing their depleted budget, we would ask that they look to dig deeper into financial reserves and cut away 'non-emergency ' projects.

“We cannot accept that people of Greater Manchester or our firefighters balance this budget with their lives.”

The FBU fears that the closure of some of the brigade's 41 stations may also be an option in coming years.

Trafford is one of the worst hit areas under the proposed cuts. Stretford would lose one engine, with staff cut from 11 to seven. Sale would lose an engine, with staff dropping from nine to five.

But fire bosses point out the number of emergency call outs has been halved since 2005 to just 40,000 in 2010.

County Fire Officer Steve McGuirk said: "We have to find up to £25 million of savings after getting the largest budget cut in the UK fire service. Sadly, we cannot make this kind of reduction without changes to our operational response.

"However we can reassure people that no fire stations will close and fire engines will remain on stations. We can do this by making our fire cover more intelligence-led, targeting our resources to areas where incidents are more likely to happen.

"We know the FBU is campaigning against these proposals but the statistics they are publishing are out of context. For example, when they identify 'slower response times' in each location they imply a significant delay when, in reality, we are talking a matter of seconds - and this is because we are not closing stations or removing 'first appliances', so the current response times for our first appliances which deal with the vast majority of incidents will largely remain the same.”

neal.keeling@men-news.co.uk

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