I AM writing in response to the letter from Evelyn Campbell Smith under the heading Fire service duty is to save lives.

I can assure Ms Smith that Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service has not "lost the plot" as she alleges and I, more than anyone else, am well aware of its statutory duties and responsibilities.

As the Chief Fire Officer I am accountable to the Fire and Rescue Authority which is responsible for the discharge of its statutory duties.

This accountability requires me to make professional recommendations to the authority to inform its decisions in relation to how it meets its statutory duties.

The simple fact is that due to cuts in government grant to the authority, it will no longer be possible to keep all 26 fire stations on Merseyside open.

Over the course of the current spending review and for the financial year 2015/16 Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority has sustained a 35% cut to the grant it receives from government.

This has given rise to a requirement to make savings of over £26m.

Despite our best efforts to protect frontline services it simply isn’t possible to make this level of saving and not substantially reduce the numbers of whole-time firefighters employed by the authority.

We are now at the point where the numbers of whole-time firefighters we can afford to employ is no longer sufficient to keep our existing 26 stations open.

Savings will be made by not employing the same number of firefighters at the proposed Greasby site as are currently employed at Upton and West Kirby fire stations.

Dan Stephens, Chief Fire Officer, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.