PLANS to slash cover at one of Southampton's busiest fire stations will NOT compromise safety, a senior officer has pledged.

Fire chief Kevin Butcher claims people living in Redbridge won't notice the difference when changes are brought in next month.

But union chiefs have dubbed the move a "reckless quest" to hit response times - and plan to hand out 10,000 leaflets to residents on the city estate warning them of the dangers.

From September 1, one of the Redbridge Hill station's two fire engines will be sent 12 miles away to Winchester each evening to provide a faster response time to emergency calls there.

The move is part of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service's new commitment to manage risk and concentrate on fire prevention, brought in following the bitter pay dispute of 2002. But it leaves Redbridge station with just one fully-crewed appliance each night.

Senior divisional officer Mr Butcher said: "The high-rise issue is not the issue in hand. The reality is that we will still send three fire engines to a tower block fire.

"We will identify the three nearest resources and send them. The people of Redbridge, we feel as professional fire officers, will see no difference."

He added: "We don't think there will be a delay in response times. Fire engines are not sat in their fire stations doing nothing. Quite often the fire station is empty because they are off doing other things. We always deploy resources to fill up the gaps."

A team of four to six firefighters and one engine will go to Winchester from 6-11pm every day of the six-month trial.

Research shows that the busiest time for all fire stations is in the evenings - but at Winchester most firefighters go off-duty at 6pm.

After that there is an added five minutes to the response time in the city.

Earlier this year the brigade revamped call-out times so the first fire engine must arrive on the scene in eight minutes 80 per cent of the time.

Union bosses say that moving an engine out of Redbridge is just abid to hit more targets - but one that will put lives at risk.

Fire Brigades Union spokesman Eddie Burrows said: "It will take time for the second engine to be deployed from St Mary's or Hightown, and that could cost lives."

Redbridge Towers resident Sylvia Priestley added: "This will add to the time factor and put people at risk, which is a bit of a worry when you live where we do."