FIRE crews today claimed that East Lancashire towns were being left with dangerously low levels of cover because of staff shortages.

They hit out after Darwen was left without full-time fire cover and cover in Blackburn was reduced from three to two pumps for part of the same day after staff called in sick.

Normally, spare staff would be drafted in from elsewhere in the county, but officers said they were told that wouldn't happen because there was no-one available.

Firefighters today claimed lives were at risk because crew levels across the county had fallen by 32, from 155 to 123, since last year.

Fire bosses admitted staffing levels had fallen due to ill-health and retirement but said there were still enough staff to cope. A spokesman said there would be no recruitment until next year.

Staff at other fire stations in East Lancashire said the staffing problems, which occurred on Saturday, were becoming increasingly common.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue, however, said it needed 116 officers to provide minimum cover across the county, and had never dropped below the current figure of 123.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: "It seems simple to me. If these crews and pumps weren't needed to protect life, they wouldn't have them. So they must be needed and I think, as a result of this, lives are at risk."

One fireman, based at Darwen - which has one permanent and one retained crew - said: "Instead of being able to go straight to a fire we'd have had to wait for the retained crew to respond, which wastes five minutes straight off. It leaves us sat around doing nothing and we want to be out as soon as the call comes in.

"It's not just here, it's happening everywhere. Lives are at risk. In our job, time is of the essence."

Eric Trotter, station officer at Blackburn, said: "We were short for a time on Saturday due to the fact that quite a few people were off sick or injured, but we did find people in the end."

The Fire Brigades Union (FUB) in Lancashire said the service was currently 32 staff down though unfilled vacancies.

A spokesman said: "We've had a freeze in Lancashire since last year and the cracks are now beginning to show.

"There are fewer firefighters to man appliances, which means some areas don't have the cover they deserve. Having to call on crews from other towns puts lives at risk."

He added it was becoming increasingly common for fire officers to work from different fire stations to plug gaps. And added: "If the employers weren't treating crews so badly with the on-going dispute, they'd be prepared to help with overtime."

A fresh wave of fire strikes threatened in September follow a dispute over the deal agreed to end last year's walk-outs.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue said: "We do not think fire cover has been compromised. We aren't recruiting at the moment but we have never come close to having too few frontline staff."