THE Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has slammed proposed ‘life threatening’ cuts to Winsford’s fire brigade, after Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) announced mandatory county-wide savings had risen by £2 million.

CFRS originally estimated they would need to save £5 million, with a package of measures that includes reducing the amount of 24-hour staffing across the county.

But speaking at a meeting of Winsford Town Council on Monday, November 19, Gus O’Rourke, CFRS area manager for operational policy and assurance, announced the force now needed to save £7 million.

Mr O’Rourke said the force was left ‘no option but to look at front line fire officers.’ Dave Williams, Cheshire FBU regional secretary, said the proposals - currently under public consultation - would mean the loss of up to 50 firefighter jobs in Cheshire.

He said: “Our concerns are that cuts of this magnitude will put lives at risk; fire appliances taking longer to arrive at incidents with fewer firefighters.

“Incidents will have longer to develop and escalate to beyond the capabilities of the first crew arriving.”

76 per cent of CFRS’s budget is currently spent on employees . Mr O’Rouke said Winsford has seen a 28.8 per cent reduction in incidents thanks to community education and preventative work.

However, Mr Williams said cuts would mean there would be ‘less firefighters available to undertake this work.’ Mr Williams added that CFRS should join them in lobbying Government to reduce the scale of the cuts.

He pointed again to the proposed move from Winsford’s HQ to a regional centre in Warrington, upon which he said ‘millions have already been wasted.’ Despite the savings, CFRS plan to build four new fire stations across Cheshire using reserve funds, or taking out loans.

There is a consultation into the proposals at www.cheshirefire.gov.uk under the ‘Making Cheshire Safer’ banner.

Winsford currently has one full-size appliance, and a smaller response vehicle. There is one Day Crewe staffed – meaning officers work a day shift at the station before taking pagers home to notify them of any emergency at night. The other appliance is operated by on-call staff.

Winsford’s proposals are:- To change from the current Day Crewing system to on-call 24 hours a day, saving £600,000 Or, change to ‘Nucleus Crewing’: Monday-Friday eight-hour shifts with evening and weekends covered by on-call staff, saving £300,000.