FIRE union leaders today attacked plans for regional control rooms, warning they could lead to job losses. Merseyside fire authority is due to approve a reform package that would see the establishment of a north west regional fire assembly. The assembly would include the fire authorities of Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside. Chief Officers across the north west will discuss several options for controlling fire services. They include: * One control room for the whole of the north west. * The merging of Merseyside and Cheshire control rooms. * A joint emergency Merseyside control room for police, fire and ambulance. Merseyside fire service spokesman Alex MacDougall said all options would be considered. The fire assembly will also over-see joint regional control rooms, regional training for firefighters and strategy to cope with chemical or biological attack. But Fire Brigades Union bosses say regional control rooms will lead to "significant" redundancies and a loss of local skills and knowledge. Merseyside FBU convenor Les Skarratts said: "Regional control rooms would lead to a loss of jobs. We believe there are regional chief officers who want to see this happen. "You would lose local knowledge and attendance times would be bound to fall." Mr MacDougall said it was not known how many jobs would be lost if the region had one control room, but pledged that Merseyside fire service would not make compulsory redundancies. He said: "If we have five different services with one control room, we will need less people. "As far as losing local knowledge, I strongly dispute that. "The local knowledge is with the firefighters. With the global positioning satellite technology in fire appliances, they can be controlled from Cumbria as well as they can from Merseyside." Work is due to start on a new Merseyside control room in Bridle Road, Bootle. Mr MacDougall added that the new facility, which will be finished in October 2005, would be the "per-fect" base for any new regional control room. Merseyside Fire Authority is due to vote on the reform package next Wednesday. | 
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