LOOMING multi-million pound budget cuts to Merseyside’s fire service will lead to the closure of five stations and loss of 150 firefighter jobs – at the very least.

In an exclusive Post interview, Chief Fire Officer Dan Stephens warned of the devastating consequences of an impending cull in government funding that could directly impact on public safety.

Merseyside Fire Authority – whose £9m budget cuts from 2011 to 2013 are already twice those inflicted on other forces – is expecting to be told by Whitehall mandarins to save a minimum of £8.5m from 2013 to 2015.

Even in that best case scenario, where forecasts are based on the predicted national average grant settlement, the impact will be severe.

The Post understands that stations in Heswall, West Kirby, Allerton, Aintree and Eccleston will be examined closely in any spending review, although no decisions have yet been made.

Eleven fire engines would be stripped from service with frontline posts culled across the county.

The current scope for training firefighters and running blaze prevention programmes – such as installing free smoke alarms – would inevitably be scaled back.

And the worst case feared by the authority could see that savings target double to £17m if Merseyside continues to be singled out for savings.

That doomsday scenario would undoubtedly lead the fire service to urgently seek a judicial review.

Mr Stephens said there was “no possibility” that non-frontline cuts would deliver the savings predicted.

Merseyside has already shed 92 firefighter jobs and 80 support staff in a bid to address its current budget deficit while staff are already subject to an imposed three-year pay freeze.

Mr Stephens said: “We are estimating the best-case scenario based on the available information in the public domain.

“The Department for Communities and Local Government will not confirm to us what our settlement will be before December, which would give us a very short window to set a legal budget.

“All we can assume is that Merseyside is cut in line with the national average, which will be around £8.5m. But if we are treated as we were in the first two years, it will be two times that amount.

“The most concerning thing for me is that any fat I may have had as Chief Fire Officer to deliver savings has gone.

“We have already picked the low-hanging fruit and there are now no easy decisions for us to make. Anything we cut now will have an impact.”