Fully-crewed fire engines could be reduced in Prescott plan

A single van with two firefighters on board could be sent to fires instead of fully-crewed conventional appliances under plans drawn up by John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister.

The document, sent to local councils, calls for an end to national standards of fire cover, envisages the closure of some fire stations and a system under which not all 999 calls lead to the despatch of appliances.

Leaders of the Fire Brigades Union, which leaked the draft guidelines, claimed the proposals could lead to the loss of up to 10,000 firefighters' jobs and reduce standards to "dangerous" levels.

Ruth Winters, president of the union, said councils were embarking on the biggest cuts ever seen in a public service. The new localised approach to fire cover would lead to a "post-code lottery" where there would be different response times in different areas, she said.

The FBU remains in dispute with the Government and local authorities over its 40 per cent pay claim tabled last year. An offer of 16 per cent over three years has been recommended by the union leadership but overwhelmingly rejected by the membership. The FBU executive meets next week to decide its next step, which could lead to fresh industrial action.

Mr Prescott is due to make a fresh statement on the dispute during the second reading in the Commons of the Fire Services Bill, which will give the Government power to impose a pay deal on the union.

The Bill is expected to become law in a matter of weeks and could lead to the imposition of the 16 per cent pay rise, possibly in the autumn. Some hardliners in Whitehall believe the firefighters should be forced to take a lower pay rise if a settlement is imposed.

Ms Winters said the Government was trying to portray decimation of the fire service as modernisation. "They are preparing a recipe for disaster in the fire service. You cannot have cuts of this magnitude in an already overstretched service without the lives of firefighters and the public being put at risk," she said.

The union warned that the proposals, which would see national minimum standards for responding to fires replaced with plans worked out locally, would lead to widely different response times across the country.

Ms Winters said that, under the plans, rescue equipment would be removed from some fire stations and firefighters on motorcycles would check an incident before fire engines attended.

A spokesman at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said: "It is complete rubbish to suggest that the consultation paper envisages a reduction in the service. It is all about moving resources to where they are needed to protect life."

The spokesman said a proper "risk-based" approach would switch the emphasis away from protecting property to protecting life. The present policy often meant that two appliances arrived within five minutes and a third in eight minutes at empty office blocks at night, whereas a family home in the suburbs, possibly with young children inside, would be attended by one fire engine in eight to 10 minutes.