FIREFIGHTERS available to potentially save lives in Barnsley have seen their numbers shrink by a fifth since 2010.
The Fire Brigades Union, which collected the data, said firefighters are being asked to do ‘more with less’.
Freedom of Information requests by the union show there were 748 people employed by the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service this year, including full-time and on-call fire fighters and other supporting staff, such as call handlers.
It was 188 fewer staff than the workforce of 936 in 2010, meaning the number of jobs fell by 20 per cent across its four districts.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Fourteen years of austerity have devastated the fire and rescue service - every region has been hit, with 12,000 firefighters lost to cuts across the UK.
“Emergency response times are slower than ever before, putting homes and lives at risk.
“To protect the public, Labour must invest in the fire and rescue service as a matter of urgency.”
