LANCASHIRE fire bosses are set to splash out a staggering £70,000 on a name change for the Brigade.

The change - from Lancashire County Fire Brigade to Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service - will be brought in from April to coincide with Blackburn and Blackpool councils becoming unitary authorities.

A design has yet to be finalised but it looks likely that the star logo will remain the same with just the words altered. The county's 40 fire engines will have the new motif painted on as they come in for a service, and uniforms of almost 1,500 firefighters will have to be amended or replaced. The change will also affect stationery, flags and signs.

Half the money has come from Government funds allocated especially for the authority's structural changes.

Bob Clark, chair of Lancashire's Fire Service and Public Protection Committee, said: "The changes will happen over many months and will make no difference to the delivery of service.

"Many fire authorities have changed their name to include 'rescue service', to reflect more what fire crews do such as dealing with traffic accidents.

"There has been a move for this for several years - the Brigade has been in its present form since 1974. Now seems to be the ideal time to do it.

"If the change was minor we wouldn't have thought it worthwhile, but it's a big difference."

Lancashire's Library, Museums and Arts Committee will meet on January 19 to decide on a new title for the county's Record Office.

Members will vote on whether to change it to Lancashire Archives to give the service a new image and reflect its full role.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.