CUTS to Cheshire Fire Service cost lives according to a firefighters union.

The Fire Brigade Union said firefighters are also being put in dangerous situations due to a lack of resources.

The organisation points to a steady increase in the number of injuries and deaths over the past six years as response times get longer.

Cheshire Fire also has 134 fewer full-time firefighters than it did in 2010.

Six people died in the past year and the number of casualties rose from 85 in 2010 to 142 in 2016.

Andrew Fox-Hewitt from the FBU said: “The previous six years has seen a year on year decrease in the number of whole-time firefighters employed by the authority, it has also seen a year on year increase in the average time of response to life risks.”

“Cheshire FBU believe that these are all intrinsically linked – if you cut the number of full-time firefighters and appliances, you will see an increase in attendance times, - and this will ultimately lead to an increase in preventable injuries and deaths.”

The FBU said fewer firefighters means that crews end up putting their own lives at risk to save others before waiting for back up to arrive.

“When someone is screaming at firefighters to act, to rescue their parent, their partner or their child, and you are there as part of the fire service response, it does not matter how ‘self-disciplined to work within accepted systems of work’ you may be, as a firefighter you will act,” added a spokesman. 

Cheshire Fire was also criticised for planning to take one of its three aerial appliances off the road next year, meaning that if firefighters need to tackle a blaze in a tall building they will have to wait for equipment to arrive from Lymm or Chester.

The FBU also suggested Cheshire Fire was ‘manipulating’ response time figures by only starting the stopwatch when the call handlers at the control centre tell a fire station to send out a crew, removing the time taken to manage the call.

The union said: “If correct this clearly would have the effect of presenting a speedier service than actually is the case and the FBU would welcome further dialogue with the authority on that matter.”

But in their yearly plan, the fire service said the number of incidents they attended had gone down by 15 per cent in the past five years, with the number of deliberately started fires down 42 per cent.

Cheshire Fire blamed Brexit as one of the reasons for difficulties: “The authority is able to make the savings it needs while changing service delivery to fit the local risk profile.

“Over the next few years, fire authorities, along with all local government bodies, will have to navigate the challenges and opportunities resulting from the UK’s decision to leave the EU and the resulting exit negotiations.”

A spokesman for the service said: “The consultation about our current plans for 2017/18 opened back in October and will close on January 3.

"Anyone wishing to know more or have their say can do so by visiting www.cheshirefire.gov.uk.

“All the feedback received during this consultation, including that submitted by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), will be reviewed in detail prior to the final decision by the Fire Authority at a public meeting in February.

"In addition FBU representatives have also been invited to the authority’s January planning day to discuss their response in more detail.”