Retained firefighters in Haslingden have been given new hope that they can avoid the axe.

If Haslingden's crew is laid off, the town will be covered solely by Rawtenstall fire service.

But the town's retained firefighters have conducted a survey which claims to have found that firefighters from Rawtenstall would not be able to attend incidents in Haslingden within statutory limits.

This has provided the 12-strong crew with fresh hope that bosses may decide to spare them the axe.

Haslingden's crew is one of six East Lancashire retained crews that is earmarked for the chop.

Bosses have claimed their services were no longer needed after studies showed that there was not enough work for them.

But this has caused much controversy in Haslingden and the retained firefighters have already collected more than 4,000 signatures against the plans.

Crew manager Andy Coulton said: "We are currently gathering information, so that we have our own version of the figures "We are pretty confident that the information we have proves they cannot shut us down.

"We believe that if our station is closed then the attendance times that have been set will not be able to be met, and lives will be at risk.

"Obviously I don't want to say too much as I don't want to curse myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if 30 per cent of the proposed list was scrapped, and I would hope that we would be in that group."

Anyone wishing to sign the online petition should go to www.petitiononline.com/hassy/petition.html Fire service bosses are currently in consultation over the proposals until December when a final decision will be made.