THE public are being urged to have their say on hotly-contested proposals to overhaul Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The plans are aimed at modernising the service as well as making savings of £1.8m over the next two years.

Firefighters at Swindon and Salisbury stations would be transferred to 12-hour shifts, making days longer but nights shorter.

The service says this will still be a 24/7 system and is in line with Health and Safety Executive recommendations.

Stratton and Westlea stations would move to a “day crew plus” system aimed at enhancing cover to meet Swindon’s growth.

Firefighters on call at night would stay in provided accommodation, rather than work a shift system from their own homes, and be able to choose the working pattern they follow.

The move would reduce the number of posts needed and staff would be transferred to other roles elsewhere in Swindon or across the country. Shifts at Trowbridge and Chippenham will continue as normal but patterns will be changed to align with the 24/7 stations.

The service also wants to create “communities” of two to three stations which it says will utilise wholetime and retained firefighters in a more effective way.

Full-time firefighters will be based in these rural locations to “provide additional resilience and enable the service to manage local risks more effectively”, the proposals state.

Each community will have a “hub” – either an existing wholetime station or one with a nucleus of wholetime firefighters attached to it alongside retained staff.

The stations identified for the nucleus crews are Marlborough, Warminster, Devizes and Amesbury, but the firefighters will be attached to the community, not just that station.

The distribution of fire engines will be maintained, but some appliances will move to other locations or be replaced with more appropriate equipment.

The service says the system of paying retained fighters with a retainer, plus money for each incident or training day they attend, will be replaced with a salary scheme.

This is aimed at giving on-call staff greater security, ensuring guaranteed availability and making it easier to recruit new people.

Chief Fire Officer Simon Routh-Jones said: “We have no choice but to change, given both the current economic climate and the demands placed upon us by public expectation.

“We know we have to find £1.8m from our budget by 2014, but we have done all we can to bring forward proposals that protect our core business while allowing us to make the savings required.

“We now need the input of our staff and the public to develop these ideas into firm options.”

The service said it will keep all 24 of its fire stations, maintain or improve cover, work closely with its partners and community and use the skills of its staff in a better way.

Mr Routh-Jones said: “We have until the end of May to discuss the proposals with both our staff and local communities, and we have already carried out a number of presentations at Area Board meetings in Wiltshire.

“We need to find a way of working more efficiently without losing our effectiveness, and I believe these proposals achieve that.”

The Fire Brigades Union has said the changes amount to cuts which will mean a reduction in firefighters and appliances being spread more thinly across the county.

The branch has slammed the new shift patterns as “Victorian working”, saying staff will be unable to leave stations for long periods except for emergencies.

Visit www.wiltsfire.gov.uk and click on the ‘Have your say’ link. Alternatively, email consultation@wiltsfire.gov.uk or call 01380 731114.