FIRE chiefs will vote to cut 80 front-line firefighter jobs this week, as part of a package of measures which union officials believe will see the loss of around 120 posts.

Merseyside Fire Authority is expected to agree to a raft of measures to help plug a £5m budget gap on Thursday.

It would see 80 front-line firefighters take voluntary redundancy or retirement over the next year.

The Fire Brigades Union last night said a further 36 fire safety staff, who are currently uniformed, will also depart, bringing the total to 116.

A source told the Daily Post that the authority would agree to cull 129 jobs over the next year.

A senior fire authority member said 140 fire service employees had put their names forward for voluntary redundancy.

Union representative Les Skarratts said: “It is a sad indictment so many want to leave a job which used to be cherished by so many.”

He said the fire authority’s consultation was “shambolic”.

Mr Skarratts added: “The fire authority will be meeting on Thursday to vote through some of the biggest ever cuts to a fire brigade in the UK, and Gordon Brown will come to Liverpool today and say there will be no front-line cuts.”

Other measures which will be voted on include changing shift patterns at Eccleston, in St Helens, which will save around £300,000.

Cllr Jack Colbert, the Liberal Democrat group leader on the fire authority, said: “We wrote to all fire staff to ask for people to come forward for voluntary redundancies, and 140 put their name forward.

“We have got to take a good percentage of that.

“It is a depressing situation and next year it is going to be worse because we have been told we will be getting a decrease in the grant from government. But I would like to say the people of Merseyside will not see any reduction in the level of fire and rescue cover.”