DISAPPOINTED fire chiefs in Lancashire today predicted they will not meet Government targets to attract more women and people from ethnic backgrounds to the service.

But they vowed to shake off the service's "macho" image, which was blamed for the low uptake of places, and continue the drive to boost numbers.

A recruitment campaign by the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service in October and November resulted in 490 applications. Of those just 68 were from woman and 24 from people from black or ethnic backgrounds.

Fire chiefs say the figures are an improvement on previous year, when just eight per cent of the applications came from women and three per cent from those from ethnic backgrounds

Government guidelines had hoped for a 20 per cent increase in the female workforce and 15 per cent for people from ethnic groups over the next five years.

The news come weeks after fire chiefs admitted they were having problems attracting retained crews, particularly women, due to the pressures of work, home and travel.

Fire service liaison officer John Taylor said: "We can say that we are not going to meet the Home Office targets. It is a national problem and there is an awful lot of ground to cover to achieve those targets.

"The results are better than the year before, so the recruitment campaign has surely had an effect, but it leaves me dismayed that it hasn't been a more dramatic improvement.

" Ideally we would like to see 50 per cent of the applications from these groups.

"It's good, but we've got to do better."

Last year crews held a series of taster sessions in Blackburn, Accrington Darwen and Burnley to give people an insight into what has predominantly been a white, male dominated domain.

The drive was part of a Home Office directive to make pubic bodies more representative of the communities they serve.

At present the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service has just 13 female firefighters and nine from black and ethnic groups.

Mr Taylor said: "We are trying to find out which applications came as a result of the taster sessions.

"The recruitment drive was helpful and we want to keep this as an on-going issue, in the forefront of our objectives for 2001.

"But there is no room for complacency. It has been a very positive approach but we still need to do more."