FIRE crews in Wiltshire’s rural communities cannot attend fires because they face a shortage of on-call firefighters, leaving hundreds of hours uncovered.

Despite staff shortages, fire leaders confirmed that by using fully crewed pumps from nearby stations, no emergency calls have been left unattended.

On-call firefighters respond to emergency calls and are made up of local people generally living or working within five minutes of their station.

Despite recruitment drives by Dorset and Wiltshire fire service, some stations have several hours a day where stations cannot respond to emergency calls due to a lack of staff.

All single pump stations that are maintained by on-call staff require 1,176 hours worth of coverage each week. Salisbury has a shortfall of 144 hours, Tisbury loses 378 with Mere falling short by 472 hours.

Larger two-pump stations, such as one in Amesbury, require 2,016 hours to man both pumps. It currently faces 1,259 hours a week not accounted for.

During the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority local performance and scrutiny committee meeting, Byron Standen, head of prevention and protection, said: “Often we can cover from other areas. We look at an area and where we have provision and what we can do to mitigate it.

“In some stations, while the second pump won’t be available we have at least one full crew.  We have not had one incident where we have not been able to fully attend an accident and see it through to the end.”

Although 53 new on-call firefighters have been recruited in the last 16 months, 52 serving firefighters have handed in their resignation over the same period.