Horwich fire station had no team on call at its base for 18 hours over the weekend, the BEN can reveal today. Problems arose when night cover for the station, which is only manned by full-time firemen during the day, was decimated by illness leading to no men or engines available in the town from 6pm on Friday to noon on Saturday. Today a Greater Manchester Fire Service worker, who asked not to be named, claimed the situation "had put the public at risk" and was "completely unacceptable."

But fire chiefs hit back describing the lack of cover as a "one-off" and explaining adequate provision for Horwich had been provided by several stations surrounding the town.

Reassured

Spokesman Jeff Gill said: "The public should be reassured that full professional cover is being maintained for Horwich and that will continue."

Home Office guidelines indicate that emergency response times to Horwich can still be met by teams in Bolton and Hindley, which covered the town on Friday night.

Crews throughout Greater Manchester are also mobilised in the event of any major fire.

Part-time firemen, who were on call at home to cover Horwich on Friday night, were all unavailable due to sickness.

But the fire service worker said: "There should be no excuses for not having any cover for a sizeable town."

He added: "Had there been a really major incident it is always better to have crews on the doorstep."

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