Firefighters claim residents' lives will be endangered if plans to move one of their engines from Shipley to central Bradford go ahead.

And they are calling on townsfolk to support their protest against the plans put forward by West Yorkshire Fire Authority as part of its modernisation programme. Yesterday they collected about 1,000 signatures in just one hour from shoppers in the town.

Firefighter Glen Woffendin said: "A lot of people have not been aware they could lose their fire engine. It is the people of Baildon and Shipley who will suffer because they will lose their fire cover.

"We won't be able to give the same cover and our response times will be longer."

The plans also include reducing staff at the station from 52 to 28.

Shoppers yesterday said they were shocked by the news.

"I think it is disgusting," said Ann Derbyshire, of Saltaire.

"They are so busy, and what's going to happen if there is a fire and they don't have any equipment?

"I see them coming past my house and they are really, really busy."

And Angela Laverick, of Baildon, said she was concerned the move would put people's lives at risk.

West Yorkshire Fire Authority is consulting on the proposal until the end of the year. A spokesman said: "Each fire authority now has to produce an integrated risk management plan, which looks at all the fire resources in the area and says: 'Have you got all the resources in the right place at the right time?'

"Our plan has identified pockets of very, very high activity in the Bradford area. The second fire engine at Shipley often spends its time covering Bradford anyway. It is inevitable some fire stations are quiet and others are stretched and trying to cope, and it makes sense to put the resources where the problems are."