DOVERCOURT’S daytime fire-fighters look set to be axed after the fire authority agreed to a swathe of cuts across the service.

Essex Fire Authority, made up of councillors from Essex, Southend and Thurrock, voted for an option for cuts to the service, which will see the county lose 138 full-time firefighters by 2020.

It will aim to save £6.4 million every year until 2020.

Under option two, Dovercourt will lose its daytime firefighters and become manned entirely by part-time retained crews.

Manningtree will lose its off-road specialist Pinzgauer engine, which local councillors said was needed to navigate Manningtree and Mistley’s narrow streets.

Essex Fire Service said it would prioritise working on preventing fires through visiting schools, ensuring working smoke alarms were fitted in every household, working to meet the needs of vulnerable people and supporting the installation of sprinkler systems.

This work will mean an annual investment of £3million, achieved through increasing the portion of council tax the fire service gets by two per cent a year – about £1.35 for a Band D property.

Fire chiefs have justified the cuts by citing a fall in demand year on year. They will now come up with an implementation plan for the cutbacks before a further meeting in September.

Acting chief fire officer Adam Eckley aims to increase the number of retained firefighters – up from 437 to 456.

He said: “We’ve seen 73 per cent of the public and 68 per cent of our staff who have backed this option.

“The model we are going for means we’ll be able to provide 50 per cent greater capacity to respond to incidents, and we believe that the proposals are achievable by the end of 2019 to 2020.

“A decision today doesn’t mean that the actions will be delivered tomorrow: we have been given the mandate to go away and come up with an implementation plan.”