VITAL fire safety posts are set to be cut across Lancashire as part of a £600,000 savings drive, say union chiefs.

But leaders of the county’s Fire Brigades Union are not blaming fire and rescue service bosses for their demise.

Union leader Steve Harman has blamed the coalition Government for forcing through grant reductions which he claims will put lives at risk.

He believes the county brigade could be left facing £5.7million, or 15per cent cuts, from its £60million budget, between 2013 and 2015.

Fire authority bosses have conducted a review of Lancashire’s fire safety enforcement and community fire safety functions.

Seven fewer posts will remain on the enforcement side, with new posts such as senior fire safety officer and fire safety inspection officer created.

Mr Harman said: “These are all valuable jobs but we know that the service needs to find £5.7million out of its £60million budget in the third and fourth year of the current settlement.

"You just cannot take away any of the jobs that we have now without it having a direct effect on the service that we provide.”

The only other option, other than reducing firefighter posts, he said, was to withdraw fire appliances from particular areas, which would also prove controversial.

Rossendale councillor Bob Wilkinson, who was a fireman for 29 years and a former chair of the fire authority, said: “I think the government is cutting back much too quickly.

"Services like the police and fire and rescue should have fewer cuts because they’re essential.

"I think it will be almost impossible to cut this deeply without there being an effect on the way the service works.”

Darwen mayor Coun Paul Browne, a former member of the fire authority, said cuts should come from elsewhere in the service.

He said: “The top officers and their expenses should be looked at.

"A few years ago they spent a fortune getting white shirts for the top officers rather than blue when there was no need.”

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Lancashire, Paul Richard-son said: “We have consistently reduced the number of fires and resulting injuries and fire deaths year-on-year and our current review of protection and prevention arrangements will not change that."