A LAST-ditch fight for full-time 999 fire and rescue cover in the county calls for a council tax rise.

Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue Authority (HWFRA) faces a motion for a precept rise above the government threshold to stop cuts to cover.

HWFRA meets at Hereford Shirehall this Wednesday for what is expected to be its final vote on a savings plan that cuts full time fire and rescue response out of Hereford fire station down to a single crew.

Herefordshire councillor and HWFRA member Cllr Jim Kenyon has put a motion to the meeting calling on the service to include proposals to increase its 2015/16 council tax precept above the anticipated government  threshold to avoid cuts to frontline services.

The motion calls on HWFRA to fund the consequent council tax referendum and, if necessary, any re-billing costs and that no reductions to frontline services approved in the savings plan be implemented until the outcome of any referendum is known.

At Wednesday’s meeting, HWFRA is recommended to back the savings plan called Community Risk Management (CRM).

That recommendation, based on debate around CRM over the past year, keeps current retained fire cover at Whitchurch, Kingsland, Leominster, Bromyard and Ross-on-Wye.

But the second full-time crew at Hereford station would become a “day duty” crew – that is 12  hours permanently crewed and 12 hours retained over 24 hours.

One of the two fire engines at Ledbury and Tenbury stations would also go.

The service still faces a budget gap rising to more than £2 million in 2016/17 that it claims can only be closed by examining funds used to provide front line services.

With full-time fire and rescue fire cover at Hereford station reduced to a single appliance there could be more than seven fire fighters on a shift.

Those seven - presuming all are present - would be the full-time 999 response for the whole county, including the manning of specialist appliances, with Malvern as the nearest full-time back-up.

The specialist options on standby at Hereford are an aerial ladder, an incident response unit, a Land Rover 4x4, an ultra heavy rescue vehicle, a water rescue team and a water rescue vehicle.

HWFRA accepts that the cuts will compromise response times in the county, but, maintains that, with the retained crews, enough back up is in place.