RESIDENTS on a housing estate on which three sisters perished in a house fire have joined the fight to save one of Padiham's fire crews.

People on Stonemoor Bottom, Padiham, have urged fire chiefs not to press ahead with plans which could see one of the town's retained crews axed.

Angry campaigners yesterday gathered to hold a protest by the entrance to the estate where Louise, Hayley and Gemma Waddington died.

The "little angels" aged 11, 10, and seven, died when fire ravaged their home in Lancaster Drive in February 2004.

The protest follows a warning by the girls' mother, Jayne Waddington, in last week's Lancashire Telegraph that other families could go through the same hell as she and husband Barry had suffered if the cuts became reality.

Gill Devlin, 49, who lives in Lancaster Drive, said: "It is a disgrace.

"I think that anybody who lives on the square who were here on the night the Waddington sisters died will never forget what happened.

"To stand outside a burning house and hear a mother screaming for her kids is unbearable.

"Cutting back is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard and they need to rethink what they are doing."

Ann Bartlett of the Stonemoor Bottom Residents Group added: "Everyone is really against the loss of an engine especially with what happened a few years ago on the estate when we had the three daughters who died in the house fire."

The proposed shake-up follows a review of call out patterns over the past three years which identified certain areas in the county had "too much cover".

If approved, one of Padiham's retained crews will get the chop leaving one retained crew to cover the town.

One of the two retained crews at Barnoldswick and Colne would also disappear and Burnley's fire station could move to a site by Gannow Top roundabout.

Fire bosses have also proposed closing Haslingden fire station with no replacement and calls being mainly handled by Rawtenstall station.

Earby and Barnoldswick stations could also close and one replacement built in the Salterforth area.

The fire authority will put proposals out for consultation on August 1, with the final decision being taken in December.