MORE than £2.4 million needs to be slashed from spending at the fire service by 2020, bosses have revealed.

The cash-strapped Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority says it has been warned to expect "a 30 per cent grant reduction" from central Government over the next four years and prepare accordingly.

The blow comes despite its funding already falling by 16 per cent since 2011, with the current budget set at £32 million.

Bosses at the authority say it has been able to balance this year's budget and "virtually" solve any looming problems for 2017/18 without having to find fresh ideas for plugging any gaps.

But they say they are "likely to have to find" £1.6 million of savings in 2018/19 and a further £800,000 in 2019/20 as the belt tightening continues.

Cllr Derek Prodger, the fire authority chairman, has called funding "a major concern" but says it must not allow services to worsen.

"Funding is always a major concern because we are not a wealthy service, we always do our best," he said.

"I think we've got to be more efficient and we need to look at how we operate our calls system.

"We've seen a substantial reduction in 999 calls over the last decade but it doesn't mean we can't do more work to prevent it happening."

He was questioned on it during a meeting at Worcestershire County Council alongside chief fire officer Nathan Travis.

During the debate some councillors cited recent difficulties in Liverpool, where a fire was allowed to rage for days due to a shortage of engines.

Mr Travis said: "We're in a very different position to Liverpool.

"That's a metropolitan service which has had half its fire engines taken in recent years - we've only had two removed in Herefordshire and Worcestershire."

More than half of the current budget goes on uniformed staff.

Some crews now voluntarily work 24-hour shifts, with 12 hours on call, to plug staffing gaps through the night following cuts in recent years.

The Worcester News revealed last week how more than 3,000 calls to fire control last year were false alarms, 47 per cent of the total.

Steven Gould, secretary of the Fire Brigades Union in Worcestershire, has already said he is concerned about more funding being squeezed by central Government.

"We've got a balanced budget this year and next year, it's after that," he said.