AN extra firefighter could be added to the first crew at Hereford Fire Station but proposals also want to introduce a new shift system.

The Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service wanted to reduce crewing on all wholetime fire engines to four.

The station in Ledbury Road, Hereford already only had four firefighters on its two crews.

But as fire service bosses considered reducing the crews to four at Droitwich, Evesham, Malvern, Kidderminster, Redditch and Bromsgrove, they changed their plans and decided to ensure the first wholetime fire engine at each station will have a crew of five, including at Hereford.

Steve Gould, from the Fire Brigades Union, said: "With the first pump they are going to have five. But there will be further use of the Day Crew Plus system, which is non-compliant With The Working Time Regulations."

The union do not like this system as they said it will cut the number of firefighters on a station by at least half and make those who are left work double the hours.

He said the proposals to have five firefighters on the first crew at each wholetime fire station will also have a detrimental effect on Malvern and Evesham, where the hours will be cut to 8.40am to 6pm during the weekdays and a retained service will be introduced for the evenings and weekends.

But area commander Keith Chance, head of operations said the proposals mean that there are no redundancies and the plan actually increases the number of full time and part time firefighters employed by the service by removing managerial posts.

He said: “HWFRS will soon be looking to recruit wholetime firefighters for the first time in a decade and we are keen to increase the number of applications from women and underrepresented groups. To help with this, it is important that we have modern, flexible working conditions that are attractive for people to work.

"These proposals not only increase the number of firefighters, they do so by offering a variety of working patterns that are not currently available."

Engagement with staff has been taking place regarding options and full consultation over the proposals with the staff and recognised trade unions has started.

Further consultation and negotiation will take place over the coming months.