FIRE chiefs have unveiled a fresh set of modernising plans, aimed at bringing the county's service into the 21st century.

Senior officers at North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service were forced to go back to the drawing board, after union bosses strongly opposed some proposals to take firefighters out of stations and into the community.

They labelled the changes to shift patterns, vehicle management and the crewing of aerial ladders as "cutbacks in disguise".

Senior fire officers said they have now "compromised" in many areas, and hope the 23-proposal package will get the green light later this month.

But members of the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) said that any move to take firefighters out of stations could still put lives in dangers as it could take the service longer to respond to incidents.

The new proposals include:

A move to 12-hour shifts in Selby and York, but these firefighters will no longer to be asked to go out into the community to promote safety issues

Aerial ladder crews in York, Harrogate and Scarborough will still be asked to perform a community safety role while on shift and not attending fires

A 24-hour two-pump emergency response will be maintained at Harrogate after safety fears over a reduced service

The introduction of eight community safety vehicles that will visit schools, workplaces and vulnerable people. They will be based in areas including Malton, Northallerton, Selby, Tadcaster and Whitby.

The first plan, which was due to be agreed in April, met furious resistance from the fire union because firefighters feared response times would be affected by the changes.

They also criticised the community safety vehicles because they do not carry the same firefighting equipment as a traditional tender.

Chief Fire Officer Nigel Hutchinson said: "We are by no means the biggest fire service in the country, but we certainly aim to be the best.

"To do that we need to challenge traditional ways of working with innovative ideas...

"We want to make our vision a reality and save 125 more lives that would otherwise have been lost due to emergency incidents by 2014.

"Our new proposals underpin this approach and take account of the views expressed by our staff and the public, as part of the extended consultation process."

Pete Clark, of the FBU, said: "Our argument is that you can't respond immediately to incidents if you are out and about doing community safety work. They call this modernisation, but to us it's cutbacks."

Councillor Caroline Seymour, the recently-appointed chair of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, said: "All the proposals contribute to making North Yorkshire and the City of York a safer place to live, work and play."

The new package of proposals will be put to the fire and rescue authority at a special meeting on July 13.

Updated: 09:54 Thursday, July 07, 2005