PART-time firefighters will be brought in to man Canvey fire station from April as part of a wave of cuts.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service has revealed all 25 firefighters currently based at the station will be moved elsewhere in Essex.

They will be replaced by part-time retained firefighters, who must live within five minutes’ drive of the fire station and be ready to respond to emergencies at short notice.

The changes are part of sweeping cuts to frontline services, which will ultimately lead to the loss of 40 full-time firefighters across the county to save the service £1.4million.

Four full-time firefighters will also be lost at both Rayleigh Weir and Orsett fire stations, while the number of full-timers at Brentwood fire station will be slashed from 51 to 27, with the shortfall made up by retained firefighters.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said it had kept the cutbacks to a minimum. There will be no station closures and no compulsory redundancies.

There had been fears Canvey would lose one of its two fire engines, but it was confirmed both will stay fully operational.