THE secretary of the Surrey branch of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), Richard Jones, has slammed a controversial Government review of fire services as a "horrendous" assault on hard-working firefighters' jobs.

Sir Ken Knight said that fire and rescue services in England need to be "transformed" to be more efficient and effective. He also said incidents were down 40 per cent over the past decade, despite the number of fire fighters staying roughly the same.

The former chief fire and rescue adviser to the Government said having 46 separate authorities was not sensible. His review also suggested a privatisation of the service, as well as the possibility of a single fire service for England.

But Surrey's FBU secretary Mr Jones described the report and its proposed cuts to the fire service as "ridiculous".

For full story, see this week's Farnham Herald.