FIREFIGHTERS have called on the public to help save their jobs and preserve the quality of the fire service.

Fire crews say they are set to ballot for strike action in retaliation against the Combined Fire Authoritys decision last Tuesday to axe 16 Essex firefighter jobs and cut training expenditure.

Angry members of the Fire Brigades Union are now asking residents to voice their concerns about the CFAs moves to the Essex Chief Fire Officer.

Essex FBU Chair Graham Noakes said: Last year we had immense support and we hope this will continue this year.

But he claimed the CFA was more sneaky about cutbacks this year and he wanted to ensure that residents knew how decisions would affect the fire service.

He said: The real price to pay could be the life of a firefighter or a member of the public.

If ballot results agree to industrial action, firefighter strikes could go ahead as soon as mid-June.

Harlows Station Officer Andy Fry said: We dont want to strike but we have been driven into a corner and there doesnt seem to be any other option.

We are not doing it for financial rewards but because of the service level reductions and training issues.

He said the CFAs decision to train fire crews at its stations rather than a dedicated training environment was a cheap option that would result in poorer quality training.

He said training would either be interrupted by fire calls or lives would be put at risk if calls were ignored during training.

All were trying to do is provide a good quality fire service and we need well trained people to turn up at incidents, he added.

He said the knock-on effects of job losses at other Essex stations would mean less back-up fire crews for large-scale incidents in Harlow.

The CFAs vice-chair Nigel Baker said: We have a fixed budget which had been agreed. There isnt any way to save these jobs which will be lost through natural wastage.

He said claims the CFA had extra money to play with this year did not take into account yearly fire service cost increases and the enormous amount spent on retired firefighters budgets.

Resigned to Essex fire crews taking strike action, he added: We need to look at cover immediately.

We have to make arrangements to train the army and get appliances on stand-by. All that will take up vast sums of money.

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