FIRE chiefs have rubberstamped plans to replace some fire engines in North Yorkshire with 'tactical response vehicles', crewed by only two or three firefighters.

The Fire Authority yesterday said it had approved recommendations in its Fire Cover Review report which include sending tactical response vehicles and introducing fire engines with a standard mix of whole-time firefighters and retained part-timers and the possible introduction of district watch managers on-call.

The major changes also include proposals to cut the number of fire engines available to respond to incidents within five minutes of a call-out from 46 to 27.

A North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: "The next stage is to launch a public, staff and stakeholder consultation on the 20th July 2015, and further details will be released on this date."

The service said in its report that it is proposing the tactical response vehicles because an analysis had shown that standard fire engines crewed by four or five firefighters were not always needed.

The proposed tactical response vehicles, which would carry modern firefighting equipment and technology, would respond on their own to small incidents, such as bin fires, and also attend larger incidents with fire engines.

The report also recommended that proposals for 12 hour shifts or to employ volunteers were not taken forward. Before the meeting York's Cllr Andy D'Agorne, who is a member of the county's Fire Authority, expressed concerns about public safety if the plans went ahead in order to save an estimated £1.3million.

He said: “There is still more detail required, but there is widespread concern among dedicated fire crews that they could be faced with greater risk to their own lives in order to try to save the lives of others if these changes go ahead.

“We are dealing with an essential and fundamental public service in what is the largest county in England

We should not support changes unless we are 100 per cent convinced that they will not endanger the lives of our courageous service men and women or indeed, increase the risks for the public, whom every day rely on our fire and rescue teams.”

The recommendations were given the provisional go-ahead at a meeting of the Fire and Rescue Service Training Centre in Easingwold yesterday.