Fire chiefs have reassured people who are worried downgrading a town fire station could lead to lives being lost.

Residents in Shoreham have been campaigning to save 24-hour cover by firefighters at the town's fire station in Stoney Lane.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service plans to reduce the number of full-time firefighters at the station from 28 to ten and redeploy staff to busier stations across the county.

Under the new system, full-time firefighters will work the day shifts during the week.

There will be a crew on hand to deal with incidents and several firefighters will work to promote fire safety, distributing free smoke detectors and providing commonsense advice.

At an exhibition yesterday, Chief Fire Officer Martin Burrell met members of the public to explain why the changes were necessary and to reassure them that the town would be left with adequate cover in emergencies.

He said: "I'm a professional firefighter and I would not endanger the public by making these changes if they would lead to an inadequate cover for Shoreham.

"I can understand people's concerns.

"On the face of it, it looks like a reduction in service but we're trying to focus resources in places where and when we need them."

Shoreham is the quietest station in West Sussex to have 24-hour cover.

Littlehampton and Haywards Heath stations both deal with more incidents but Littlehampton is staffed by retained firefighters and Haywards Heath only has full-time firefighters during the day.

Firefighter Abi Link has been based at Shoreham for four of her six years in the service.

She said most members of the public thought the station was being closed outright.

She said: "It could be seen as a downgrading and in terms of response times at night, there could be a longer response time.

"At the same time it is freeing up time for us to prevent fires."

Several firefighters have spent most of their careers at the station and she was sad to see the team being broken up.

Laurence Coles, 65, of Church Green, was adamant that any reduction in the number of firefighters was bad news for Shoreham.

He said: "I think there should be a crew here at nights even if they just sit there playing cards.

"Even if they save only one life, it has to be worth it."

But he said he was even more worried about the Government's plan to introduce centralised control rooms as he felt this could lead to controllers not knowing where to send crews.

Mick Cambers, a Shoreham firefighter and acting chairman of the Fire Brigade Union's West Sussex branch, said instead of cutting cover at Shoreham, the fire service should be increasing cover at Littlehampton and Haywards Heath.

He said: "It is all to do with saving money. Cutting firefighters is an easy way to do that."