Fire chiefs consider crew and station cuts to meet targets

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue is facing an anticipated cut in its budget of 9m over the next four years and has already identified where 2.5m can be saved by slashing "back-office" functions.

However, the remaining money has to be saved from the front line and, at a meeting yesterday, councillors on the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority were given seven money-saving options to consider. They said they were opposed to closing any of South Yorkshire's 23 fire stations, but decided to give further consideration to moving to a self-rostering system for firefighters and 999 control room operators, which the service says would remove "historic inefficiencies in the traditional watch-based system."

If adopted, self-rostering would save 2.47m a year but make 62 firefighters and nine control posts redundant.

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said: "Members will continue to monitor the financial situation over the coming weeks and give due consideration to all the options presented by officers.

"They have reiterated the importance of achieving efficiency changes, such as self-rostering, as a means of cutting costs without the need to close any fire stations.

"Full details of exactly what the Government cuts will mean for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue are not expected to be known for some weeks."

Graham Wilkinson from the South Yorkshire branch of the FBU said that the union hoped to avoid the strikes that rocked the fire service last year. He added: "Our argument is with the Government rather than the managers or the councillors at the Authority."

Other options that were considered included closing as many as three of the county's smaller fire stations, which would save 1m per year per station, or else bringing in "close proximity crewing" in which night shifts at some quieter fire stations would be axed.

Staff working day shifts would be offered payments to spend nights in houses close to their places of work in case of emergency. Other cost-saving options include getting rid of three "roving" fire engines and replacing them with smaller vehicles suitable for tackling bin and grass fires.

None of those options has been fully discounted yet.