A MOVE to downgrade a fire station to become on-call has sparked fears among residents over safety.

Residents in South Woodham Ferrers have voiced concerns over plans to put an end to crews being based at the station during the day.

Instead firefighters will be on-call and go to the station when there is an incident.

It is expected the change will take place on July 31 next year.

The fire station has put out an appeal on Facebook to recruit new on-call firefighters.

Recruits have to live within five minutes of the station.

With seven on-call firefighters at present, a further six are needed.

In a video, station manager Dan Wastell said the current service will be “supplemented by whole-time colleagues” until the required number of on-call staff is met.

Essex County Fire and Rescue says the proposals date back to 2016.

But the move has sparked concerns among residents who fear current response times will get worse and could endanger people living in the area and the rest of the Dengie.

A survey conducted by the Woodham and Dengie Infrastructure Group found that, of 274 responses, 96 per cent thought residents would be at more risk due to the change.

The brigade has sought to reassure residents.

In a letter, Essex Fire and Rescue said: “South Woodham Ferrers Fire Station is currently covered by a day crew system.

“During the day the crew provides a wholetime firefighter response, meaning they are based at the station waiting for a call.

“During the evening, overnight and most of the weekend they provide an on-call firefighter response, meaning they stay within five minutes of the fire station and make their way there as soon as they are called.

“In 2016 Essex residents had the opportunity to take part in a consultation which asked people to give a view on which of three possible options for the future they preferred.

“More than 17,000 people responded to the questions posed.

“Seventy-four per cent of respondents supported the second option which outlined, among other things, the crewing system to be changed to on-call at Dovercourt, South Woodham Ferrers, Great Baddow, Waltham Abbey and Great Dunmow.”

“So far Great Dunmow, Dovercourt and Waltham Abbey have already converted successfully.

“On-call firefighters are paid employees of Essex County Fire and Rescue Service and are required to meet the same standards as all of our firefighters.

“It’s simply not true to say on-call firefighters turn their pagers off when they want to or that they decide they are not attending an incident once arriving at a fire station.”

It added: “We are currently recruiting on-call firefighters at South Woodham Ferrers and so far have had a very positive response.

“We are confident that we will recruit the required number of firefighters to cover the fire engine at South Woodham Ferrers, day and night.

“As with any location in our county, if availability drops in an area we will move resources to ensure fire cover is maintained across the whole county.”