AROUND 60 firefighters voiced their opposition to changes proposed by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) at Fife Council's headquarters on Thursday.

The protest took place before fire chiefs and union officials spoke to members of the council's People and Communities Scrutiny Committee about the planned cuts.

As reported previously by the Press, the SFRS confirmed a shake up of services – which will result in three fewer firefighters on every shift in Dunfermline – due to budget cuts.

READ MORE: SFRS cuts see fire appliance removed from city

Ten fire stations across Scotland will be affected, including Dunfermline, and the changes will see one out of three fire appliances taken away from the base in Pitreavie.

Chris Murphy, from the Fire Brigade Union, was one of those to speak at Thursday's meeting.

READ MORE: Fife Council calls on SFRS to re-think planned cuts

Afterwards, he reiterated their view that safety will be compromised if the plans go ahead.

"Let's be under no illusion, these proposals are nothing other than devastating cuts to frontline emergency service provision and will undoubtedly have an impact on public safety," he said.

"It doesn't matter if Fire Service bosses dress this up as data-led modernisation to benefit local communities or Strategic Service Review Programming. The stark reality of removing 10 frontline pumping appliances from across Scotland – three from Fife – mean cuts.

"This will make communities and firefighters less safe and have an impact on our ability to resolve operational incidents.

"The Service are intent on delivering a Fire Service which is 'value for money'. Is that what local communities want from a 'world leading', 'first class' Fire & Rescue Service? Good value for money? Or do they want a swift response from sufficient local, professionally trained firefighters to attend when their lives or properties depend on it? I would suggest it's the latter and with these proposed cuts they cannot be guaranteed of getting that."

Mr Murphy refuted comments reported by the Press last week from a local SFRS manager who said that Dunfermline would "probably benefit" from changes made.

READ MORE: Dunfermline Fire Station to get new height appliance

"I'm not sure how reducing fire cover in Dunfermline will possibly benefit the local communities or firefighters who work there," he said.

"The height appliance referred to is old and in desperate need of replacement. But it is used as a combined pumping and height appliance and will only be replaced by a dedicated height appliance from Crewe Toll fire station in Edinburgh. Not a brand new one which was suggested.

"The proposals are said to be of lesser impact to Dunfermline than they are to Glenrothes and Methil which is just not true. They have the exact same impact which is the removal of a pump from each station.

"The reason the Combined Aerial Rescue Platform (CARP) has often been running with less than the agreed crewing model in recent years is due to the SFRS failing to recruit sufficiently to the collectively agreed Target Operating Model (TOM) since the inception of the single service.

"Make no mistake. The communities of Dunfermline and the rest of Fife will be less safe under these new proposals. Cuts cost lives."

Following the announcement of the service's shake-up, SFRS assistant chief officer, David Farries, said the proposals followed a "robust review" of data.

He added: "We have identified 10 fire stations where we can temporarily remove an appliance with the least impact on response times.

“As we strive to modernise our service, it’s right and proper to identify efficiencies to deliver value for money while maintaining operational resilience. We will continue to review our position moving forward.”

After the council meeting, councillors reiterated last week's call from Fife Council Leader David Ross to re-think the proposals and have asked the Scottish Fire and Rescue service to provide the information and risk assessments on which these proposals are based.

Committee Convener Eugene Clarke echoed the serious concerns voiced by the council's Cabinet Committee when they discussed the issue last week.

"These proposals are causing real fears in our communities and we are again asking the Scottish Fire and Rescue service to withdraw these plans immediately in the interests of public safety," he said.

Council Leader David Ross met representatives from SFRS and the Fire Brigade Union prior to the meeting.

He added: "We need more information. I've expressed my concerns again about these proposals and will follow up with the SFRS in the coming weeks."