THE fire service has spoken out after a serving firefighter claimed it was only a matter of time before someone dies as a result of fire engine cuts.

A spokesperson for Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue said it approved the removal of the seven least used and least available on-call fire engines in June to save around £1million which it said will fund additional full-time firefighters.

But a firefighter, who asked not to be named, said it is already having a real effect on the service's coverage across the two counties.

Worcester had three fire engines, but the on-call fire engine was axed.

The firefighter claimed issues getting a third engine to Worcester to a fatal fire in The Arboretum in Worcester meant the firefighters who were supposed to be monitoring the pumps and the breathing apparatus of the crew inside the building instead had to give CPR.

However, they added the third engine, which came from Upton, would not have saved the man's life in the incident.

A spokesperson for Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue said only one fire engine is needed for 84 per cent of all regional incidents.

It claimed only three per cent of incidents required more than two fire engines.

The spokesperson said fire crews arrived at the scene of the Arboretum fire in less than five minutes.

At the same time, fire engines were deployed in another two incidents, and 17 fire engines were still available.

They also pointed out that data from the Resource Review published shows that before the third fire engine removal, this fire engine only attended, on average, 1.14 per cent of all incidents across the entire service area between April 1 2020 and March 31 2023.

A map of the deployment of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service vehicles on Wednesday, August 7 A map of the deployment of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service vehicles on Tuesday, August 6 (Image: Anonymous)

The firefighter provided an availability map which shows five engines were available across Herefordshire and Worcestershire on Tuesday, August 6.

The spokesperson said it was "disingenuous" to suggest only a few fire engines were available as the chart only shows a snapshot at a time when the service was responding to a large fire incident in south Herefordshire.

"Therefore, despite still having several available fire engines left in Herefordshire, many more were available that day but were actually in use at a large fire.

"When there is a significant incident, remaining available fire engines are strategically moved to other stations to ensure appropriate cover is available across our geography."