A CALL to hire 100 more firefighters in the region has been dismissed as unnecessary.

Councillor Richard Udall has called on fire service bosses in Herefordshire and Worcestershire to recruit the extra firefighters saying now should be a time when numbers should be rising and not falling.

But the chairman of Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority has said the money is not available to hire 100 firefighters and the county does not need them anyway.

“A decade of austerity has left the UK with over 11,200 fewer firefighters than in 2010," Cllr Udall said. Now the government have decided on a pay freeze for all firefighters as well.

"The situation in fire stations is dire, morale is low, stress is high and those who put their lives at risk to defend us are being treated with contempt”.

“Places like the Malvern Hills and other country parks are at serious risk of fire, the recent floods have also shown the importance of water rescue, the risk and incidences are increasing, but the number of firefighters available to tackle the risks are falling.

“We have been cutting the service at a time when it should be expanding, for the sake of public protection we have to do more. We know incidents are increasing and our response rates are slipping; this puts people at risk.

"We need more people to work with community fire safety, to prevent fires, more people trained in water rescue and more firefighters to save lives."

Cllr Roger Phillips, chairman of the region’s fire authority, said: “Cllr Udall is right when he points out that there are fewer firefighters across the country now than in 2010 – and this is reflected to some degree in Hereford and Worcester.

“However, the fire authority has worked hard over that decade to bring in new, more efficient ways of working that have meant that the service is still able to effectively staff its 41 frontline fire engines and all of its specialist vehicles with fewer firefighters.

“In fact, since 2010, the fire service has only removed two frontline fire engines - based on evidence of their low usage levels and only after having consulted local taxpayers extensively on the proposals.

Cllr Phillips said the fire authority did have an extra £5 million to pay for them nor did it need them anyway.

“In reality, if the fire authority does manage to acquire any more funding from the government or it can raise local council tax in the future, it would most likely be directed into prevention and protection work, in order to meet the new legal responsibilities and policies that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy,” he added.