A UNION boss has criticised plans to reduce the minimum number of firefighters able to attend an incident.

Cumbria Fire and Rescue is running a trial in which it allows three person crews to attend some incidents at a number stations across Cumbria, including, Bootle, Broughton, Seascale and Coniston.

Depending on the result of the trial, this could possibly lead to three person crews being able to attend incidents from all on-call fire stations across the county.

However, this decision has been described as “utterly dangerous” by the chairman of the Fire Brigade Union for Cumbria, Shane Parkinson.

Currently, a fire engine can only be sent out with a minimum crew of four firefighter, the proposed trial would allow fire crews of three to attend incidents.

Mr Parkinson said: “As far as we concerned, three person crews are totally dangerous.

“We are concerned about the moral pressures on these smaller crews.

“Should members of the crew have to enter a building, there must be a minimum of two breathing apparatus to enter.

“With a three person crew, if anything was to happen while firefighters are in the building, there would be no back up available until a second fire engine arrived.

“With a four man crew, which is the current minimum, at least there is some back up if somethings were to happen.

“To allow fire engines to roll with a three person crew is dangerous.

“We have been told this is only being rolled out to on-call stations and not to regulars because the risk is higher in areas like Barrow and Ulverston.

“But at the end of the day, a fire is a fire, no matter where it is

“In the past, a previous administration ruled out three person crews as they were deemed unsafe, now we are going back on that.”

A spokesman for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service said: “This is a trial to assess the impact on crewing arrangements in Barrow and Copeland, and was subject to consultation in the last Integrated Risk Management Plan in 2016.

“The information from the trial will be used to identify crewing arrangements for the area going forward.”