England's 46 fire services must be more efficient and cut costs in the economic downturn, an official report has said.
The Audit Commission said up to £200m a year could be saved by changes including reduced night cover, cutting sick leave and using cheaper vehicles.
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said the proposals could put firefighters and the public at risk.
The Audit Commission said the money could be saved without compromising anyone's safety.
The commission said that the fire services should be willing to make "hard decisions" about staffing levels in the interests of efficiency.
"In today's financial climate the fire service, like the rest of the public sector, must rise to the efficiency challenge"Its report - Rising to the Challenge: Improving Fire Service Efficiency - commended Merseyside and Greater Manchester fire and rescue services for proving savings could be made without jeopardising standards.
Their solutions included changing shift patterns depending on need and cutting the number of staff on duty when fires were least likely to occur.
The commission found Great Manchester was the best performer, having saved up to 32% of its annual budget, while Warwickshire's 3.18% saving was the lowest reduction.
Declining productivity?
The government welcomed the report and the £197m already saved against its 2004 target of £105m.
But Fire Minister Sadiq Khan said more could be done, adding that fire services which failed to make good progress on efficiency would continue to be "challenged".
It costs £2bn a year to run the entire service in England, and those highlighted as lagging behind in the savings drive were told they had "no choice" but to take action.
This is because the government has told the service it must save £110m by 2011.
Audit Commission chairman Michael O'Higgins said: "There are things firefighters could do instead of rushing out to fires that could be more effective.
"There is no doubt that firefighters do a great job, but the best services have shown they can respond to incidents more efficiently without jeopardising safety.
"It is clearly written by people with no knowledge whatsoever of firefighting... whose only interest is in finding ways to penny-pinch on public safety"
"The rest must follow their example."
"In today's financial climate the fire service, like the rest of the public sector, must rise to the efficiency challenge," he said.
The report said the savings needed to be made because a decreasing number of incidents, higher levels of spending and largely unchanged numbers of firefighters, stations and appliances, fuelled the argument that the productivity of the service had declined.
As part of its research, the Audit Commission visited Kent and Medway, Gloucestershire, South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, West Midlands and Cheshire fire and rescue services.
It also considered notable practice in Merseyside, Devon & Somerset, Greater Manchester fire and rescue services and the London Fire Brigade.
The report said the biggest source of savings would come from providing the same level of cover but with fewer firefighters on duty.
'Dangerous proposals'
"For example, most fires and road accidents happen in the evening, but the availability of firefighters does not necessarily match this peak.
"Introducing flexible shifts, staffing stations only during the day or cutting the number of engines on call at night could all save money, " it explained.
But the FBU's Mr Wrack said the "ill thought-out and dangerous proposals" would damage the reputation of the fire service.
He said: "It is clearly written by people with no knowledge whatsoever of firefighting and the fire service, whose only interest is in finding ways to penny-pinch on public safety."
Although the Chief Fire Officers' Association welcomed the report, it said there were "significant gaps" in the commission's study.
It said there had been "insufficient recognition" of the growth of what the service now had to deal with - especially when it came to fire prevention work and responding to "unprecedented events" including terror attacks and flooding.
^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~48~RS~)