Fire service bosses have highlighted the threat of redundancies and station closures as they braced themselves for a pre-Christmas funding announcement.

West Midlands Fire Service has already been told it will lose at least 15 per cent of its Government grant – £11.5 million – over the next two years because of austerity measures.

But fire authority chairman Coun John Edwards warned anything over that sum may lead to discussions about compulsory redundancies.

“The worst case scenario is if the cut we get is more than 15 per cent,” he said. “We would then be in a position where we would have to think about compulsory redundancies of uniformed staff, which would mean closing fire stations.”

The authority expects to hear details of its grant for the two years from next April to March 2015 by Christmas Eve.

That period will be the final two years of the Comprehensive Spending Review – the efficiency regime launched by the Government in 2010.

The West Midlands fared badly in the first two years, losing £10.7 million, twice as much as smaller shire brigades.

The brigade has weathered the storm through a recruitment freeze, voluntary redundancies among office staff and tweaking its fleet by buying more brigade response vehicles – 4x4 vehicles for smaller fires.

Around 60 firefighters leave every year through ill health or retirement and are not currently being replaced.

“All we’re asking is to be treated fairly and that the reduction is flat rate with every brigade getting the same cut in percentage terms,” Coun Edwards said.

“Our numbers are falling dramatically.

“If we get to the end of 2015 and the freeze is still in place, we will have just 1,250 firefighters compared to the 1,800 we had at our peak.

“We could manage with 15 per cent through natural wastage and dipping into our reserves, but for every one per cent over that, we will lose the equivalent of 18 jobs.

“Sixteen per cent would be bad; 17 per cent would be tough, 18 per cent tougher still and 19 or 20 per cent would be a total nightmare.”