Fire service bosses could axe jobs to cut costs (From York Press)

Fire service bosses could axe jobs to cut costs

2:45pm Sunday 28th October 2012 in News By Mark Stead, mark.stead@thepress.co.uk

BOSSES at the fire service which covers East Yorkshire could axe 48 staff as they try to save £4 million over the next three years.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service has also reduced its staffing levels by 72 in the last two years, but has said it hopes the cuts will be achieved without the need for compulsory redundancies.

Chief fire officer Richard Hannigan said the service would not allow any reductions to affect call-out times and told a meeting of the Humberside Fire Authority that its 300 retained firefighters would not be cut back.

He said: “We continue to improve call-out times and efficiency and we will not be compromising the standard of our service.

“Our staff have been excellent and continue to be excellent during these difficult times. They are flexible, but will need to be even more flexible in the future.”

Mr Hannigan said figures had indicated the service may face further budget cuts of eight per cent in 2015/16 but he would oppose this, saying it would not be “sustainable” and would leave the service struggling to maintain its response times.