A BARNSLEY MP is concerned lives could be put at risk due to a fire service budget black hole which a report reveals will ‘almost inevitably’ lead to reducing fire service cover.

Residents have been warned they face a reduced fire service in the coming years as it was revealed county bosses face a £4.3m black hole in their budget.

An internal assessment, which was discussed by the South Yorkshire Fire Authority on Monday, warns that this will lead to a ‘reduction in level and quality of services provided to citizens, residents, businesses and partners’.

The information, revealed to Barnsley East MP Stephanie Peacock following a Freedom of Information request, shows the scale of the crisis facing firefighters in the town due to government cuts and new costs imposed by the treasury.

According to a report, service chiefs admit they will be unable to balance the budget from 2020 to 2022 because of further cuts, increased costs and ‘uncertainty’ caused by the government, causing a total gap of £4.3m.

The report said: “Beyond 2020, there remains an incredible amount of financial uncertainty facing the sector and service. This ‘opaqueness’ is only likely to lift when the government is able to clearly articulate the state of the nation’s public finances post-Brexit.

“Given ten years of austerity and the fact that the majority of our resources are prioritised towards providing front-line services, it is almost inevitable that the majority of the savings required will now have to come from reducing fire cover or reducing the prevention and protection aspects.

“Such a decision would not be taken lightly given the likely impact and increased risk to residents, citizens, businesses and partners of South Yorkshire of doing so.”

The report warns the financial hit is likely to have a direct impact on the level of fire protection and emergency response, concluding that ‘the majority of savings required will now have to come from reducing fire cover’.

Stephanie said: “After the tragedy of Grenfell, fire prevention and cover should be a top priority for the government but this report clearly shows that local people will be put at risk unless ministers get their act together and provide the resources fire officers need to do their job.

“Our hardworking firefighters have been doing their best against years of austerity, but there’s only so much they can do.

“We could hit a crisis point in the next few years and I will urgently raise these concerns in the Commons and fight for the money we need for local homes and businesses to be protected.”

James Courtney, chief fire officer for South Yorkshire, told the Chronicle ‘hard choices’ will have to be made.

“Our ethos throughout austerity has been to provide the best possible service to the people within the budgets available to us,” he added.

“We have long lobbied the government for a fairer funding settlement and are continuing to manage spending to protect frontline services as far as possible.

“The scale of our funding pressures, including increased pension costs and the fact we can no longer use a fire station crewing system which saved us £1.4m from our annual budget, inevitably means we will face some hard choices in the future.”