LIVES could be put at risk if Hampshire’s fire control centre is merged with other counties, union chiefs have warned.

Firefighters’ representatives have warned any reduction in the number of centres, or personnel handling 999 calls and managing live incidents, could damage the quality of service.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is talking to counties including Dorset, Wiltshire, and Avon and Somerset about combining centres.

The county’s fire authority chairman Royston Smith said the service will have to modernise its facilities, currently housed at Leigh Road, Eastleigh, within three years as they become out of date.

Following the scrapping of the planned regional super-centre at Segensworth, near Fareham, which would have combined operations for nine counties across the South East, the service is looking to minimise costs where possible.

Cllr Smith admitted any merger, which could see control centre functions pooled at quieter times, could involve a reduction in staff numbers, although he said he hoped there would not be the need for any redundancies.

But Paul Watts, a regional representative of the Fire Brigades Union, said the organisation is concerned the planned changes could damage the level of service provided.

He said: “Where efficiencies can be made through better working practices, we’ll look into that, but what we don’t want to see is a lesser service.

“Control centres should remain local to the communities they serve. When you get a big incident you need a high number of highly-skilled people to be able to manage that effectively.”