Novel ways to find more funds for the fire service have sparked safety fears in the business community in Bradford.

The Bain review suggests that brigades could charge companies for false alarms in a bid to levy income.

The report said about 41 per cent of all calls are false and reducing attendance would save resources.

But Mike Cartwright, of Bradford Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said it could compromise a safety-first approach.

"This means acting immediately an alarm is sounded, not contemplating whether or not it's a real fire and so possibly jeopardising safety," he said.

"Surely 'best practice' should be utilised in the fire service as it is elsewhere."

Other money-spinning suggestions include the fire service charging insurance companies for the cost of attending road traffic accidents.

Steve Cawood, Idle branch chairman of the Fire Brigades' Union, described the suggestions which will be considered by the Government as "appalling".

"We are worried that somebody will be sent from the firm to have a look and see if there is a fire," he said.

"We say everybody should get out and wait until we get there."

He added charging to attend accidents would push insurance premiums up and have a negative effect on the economy.

However Mr Cartwright said he agreed with many of the reforms including ending constant crewing.

"Flexible shift patterns and different crewing levels at different times of the day should be incorporated into a modern fire service," he said.

"This may remove the need to consider charging for false alarms and road traffic accidents, which we think may be inappropriate."

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Fire Service said: "The authority hasn't considered the report in detail yet and there are a lot of changes proposed which would require changes in legislation.

"These will be in the Government's white paper in the spring so we will have to wait and see what is included."