MORE than 200 Hampshire firefighters could lose their jobs, despite revised budget cut proposals.

Last year, the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service announced plans to save £5m by 2020 and cut more than 300 posts in a bid to tackle a “potential £16m gap in Government funding”.

But after a public consultation, Chief Fire Officer Dave Curry announced last week that final proposals on changes to frontline services which will see cuts scaled down to £4.1m.

But plans to change the crew levels and available equipment at Bordon fire station remain much the same.

The current crewing model at Bordon consists of a single “enhanced vehicle”, with 15 on-call firefighters around the clock, a “99 per cent” availability and an average first response time of nine minutes 32 seconds.

Under the proposals the station would adopt an “ABC level four” crewing model, which would see the current engine replaced with a single “intermediate vehicle” and a slim-downed staff of 13 on-call firefighters. But proposals now include one additional on-call full-time equivalent post to crew a co-responder vehicle. Co-responders are firefighters who receive training in basic life support, provided by the ambulance service, based around resuscitation and defibrillation. The co-responder scheme is part funded by the South Central Ambulance Service.

According to the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, these changes are estimated to see an improvement to the first response time, bringing it down to eight minutes 30 seconds, and would bring availability up to “99.9 per cent”.

This is estimated to save the service £10,000 - scaled back from the previous £14,000 saving estimate.

The proposals at Liphook will see its crew of retained firefighters cut from 12 to eight, saving £24,000, and Petersfield would see a team of 20 reduced to 14, losing one of its two larger fire engines, saving £38,000.

While Hampshire Fire and Rescue maintains that these changes will both save money and improve efficiency, ultimately to the benefit of all concerned, critics have said that claims of improved response times are only as a consequence of having smaller vehicles serving areas.

Opponents have said the alterations might mean that “proper fire engines” will take longer to respond as they will be spread thinner across Hampshire.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Stop the Cuts campaigners spoke out against Hampshire Fire and Rescue’s plans last year, highlighting the fact that, although capable of handling “70 per cent of calls”, intermediate vehicles cannot deal with the “most serious and most life threatening incidents”.

Overall, the number of full-sized fire engines in Hampshire will still be reduced from 76 to 25, with smaller “intermediate and first-response” vehicles replacing them. Original plans would have seen 86 full-time firefighters and 225 retained staff lose their jobs. But now 60 full-time and 152 retained posts could be lost.

Mr Curry said: “We’re in a financial position where we can actually make adjustments to our original proposals.”

Hampshire Fire and Rescue will be left with 507 retained firefighters and 516 full-time staff.

No stations will close and all will have some level of 24 hour-a-day, seven day-a-week cover. Plans to cut full-time cover at six stations were changed after the public consultation. The final proposals were due to be considered at the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority meeting on Wednesday this week, after the Herald went to press.

Mr Curry added: “We received a huge amount of feedback from both our staff and the public during our consultation period. We have listened and made meaningful changes to the proposals that will go to the Fire Authority next week.

“At the heart of the proposals remains our commitment to keeping the residents of Hampshire and our firefighters safe. We are taking advantage of cutting-edge technology to adapt our vehicles and techniques, ensuring our firefighters are fully equipped to deliver the best possible service to our communities.

“Our county and the risks in it are changing. If these proposals are agreed by the authority, we will embark on three years of implementation as we create a smarter, more efficient service for residents.”