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A firefighter says it is a matter of “when rather than if” he or a colleague will die in the line of duty.

Tommy Hughes said his force routinely has to break protocol to save lives as it is so short-staffed.

It follows yesterday’s Mirror probe into savage Tory cuts to the service .

Dad-of-one Tommy, 38, said they are faced with a “moral battle” on jobs, knowing their decision to go it alone and save a life could cost their own.

The 16-year veteran of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service says there is now half the number of firefighters available to tackle house fires.

It means that, where there was once a team of four that would enter a house and break up into teams of two, they now enter as one pair before separating and going it alone.

He said protocol designed specifically for their safety dictates firefighters should never be alone, and always be in twos.

But rather than one pair tackling the flames while the other attempts a rescue, there is now just one person in each role, meaning they are forced to flout rules to avoid fatalities.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Tommy, also a brigade organiser at the Fire Brigades Union, said: “Because of station closures here you’re now travelling longer distances to get to those house fires, meaning the fires are more developed when you get there.

“You’re in one fire engine with four firefighters - you just feel in danger as you don’t know how long it will be until backup arrives.

“It used to be that two appliances and eight or nine firefighters would leave from the same station at the same time.

“But because of station closures that doesn’t happen - we’re going from different stations that are further away and so the fire is more developed when we arrive.

“Nowadays, you could be on your own for 10 minutes in that fire.

“We are breaking our own procedures. We will always put ourselves in danger if there’s someone upstairs in a house fire and needs saving.

“Because of that, firefighters that should always stick together, according to protocol, are now splitting up.

“It means you have one of us trying to save the life of a person trapped and the other trying to put the fire out.

“We break procedure to save someone’s life but we know it will end up in catastrophe.

“The conversation now is not ‘if’ but ‘when’ one of us is going to be killed or seriously injured in an incident.

“We think about these things, course we do.”

(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror) (Image: Liverpool Echo)

Stretched numbers mean there is no longer a first aid operator on hand outside a house fire to help rescue those brought from the inferno, Tommy said.

While once the 1,800 litres of water from a pump has gone - it is used at 400 litres per minute - there is nobody on hand to tap into a water supply using a hydrant.

One senior officer used to be on standby outside the house to survey the scene and warn their colleagues if the situation was worsening. That post has also gone, he said.

“All these things are going through your head as you try to tackle a fire and save lives,” Tommy added.

“Procedures have been put there and studies done on how we can remain safe as firefighters, and we’re now disobeying those procedures because we have no choice but to do so.

“So you do sometimes ask yourself ‘should I tackle that fire?’

“We have families, I have a partner and a four-year-old daughter. We should not be faced with moral dilemmas like this but we constantly are.

“From a fire fighter’s point of view, to be going into a fire not knowing when your back up is coming - we feel less safe than we ever have.”

Between 2010 and 2020 there will have been a 48% cut in fire engines across Merseyside, from 42 to 22, of which only 14 engines will be available for 24-hour, seven-days-a-week response, The Fire Brigades Union says.

The number of firefighters will have been reduced by 37% during this period, from 927 to 580.

The FBU said that will lead to a 30 minute recall from home before an engine is despatched.

The further cutbacks come despite fire-related deaths in the region rising to 16 in 2015/16 - the highest number since 2001/02, figures show.

(Image: Googlemaps)

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We recognise the important and life-saving work firefighters do to protect their communities. But we are confident that the fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work.

“Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service will receive a core spending power of £60.1 million in 2018-19 – an increase of 0.9% compared with 2017/18.

"In March 2017, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service also held £31.9 million of non ring-fenced reserves, which is equivalent to 53.5% of their core spending power.”

A Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority spokesperson said: “Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service send 3 fire engines to house fires where people are believed to be involved.

“Given the small geographical area that we cover the fire engines are usually in attendance within minutes of each other.

“Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service’s average response time to life risk incidents is 5 mins 41 seconds.

“So whilst it is correct to suggest that our response times have increased over the last 10 years (by 35 seconds) it is wrong to suggest that this then requires firefighters to break protocols.

“Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service has some of the most highly qualified and experienced firefighters in the UK – we train to meet new and emerging risk and we do not accept the view that our professional firefighters would intentionally place themselves, each other or anyone else at risk by disregarding our safe systems of work.

“We do however accept that firefighting is an inherently dangerous occupation and we train extensively to understand and manage that risk.”