IT SEEMS to be hotting up every week with ongoing rows between Essex fire chiefs, the Essex Fire Authority and the Fire Brigades Union threatening to boil over.

The three have been at loggerheads for several months and relations between them deteriorated further when letters, sent by firefighters to councillors airing concerns over the way the service is being run, were passed to fire service chiefs.

The result saw 42 firefighters at Basildon receiving disciplinary action.

Now Anthony Hedley, who received some of those letters from concerned firefighters in his role as chairman of the Essex Fire Authority, has had his say.

In a statement posted on the fire service website, Mr Hedley justifies salary rises given out to fire chiefs, claiming pay hikes are not as big as the FBU claims. He also plays down the number of firefighter jobs being axed.

However, Mr Hedley fails to address criticism by the FBU that he and fellow councillor Jill Reeves passed on letters sent to them in confidence.

On claims the service is facing as much as £7million of cuts in its budget over the next four years, Mr Hedley, who is also an Essex county and Basildon borough councillor for Billericay West, said: “This is not true. The Government settlement and decisions regarding council tax mean, for the current financial year, the service’s budget reduced by about £52,000 and for the 2012 financial year rises by about £750,000.

“We don’t know what the Government will decide about our budget beyond that date and don’t know when we will find out.”

He stressed: “We do need to be cautious, however, which is why we have taken the decision to freeze recruitment at this time. To not do so would almost certainly lead to forced redundancies should budget reductions be significant.“ He also disputed claims the fire service had cut 80 firefighter posts over the past two years.

He said: “Between 2008 and 2011 the total number of uniformed operational staff has reduced from 943 to 874. Within this, the number of firefighters has reduced from 562 in 2008 to 527 in 2011 – a reduction of 35 firefighter posts.

“The service does not measure operational response by the number of firefighters it employs. It measures it by the total number of operational appliances available to our communities.

“It is a matter of fact that there are more operational appliances available today, providing a wider range of services to our communities, than at any other time in the history of the service.“ On the issue of officers’ pay and claims chief fire officer David Johnson’s salary has risen from £125,000 to £169,000, Mr Hedley said: “This is not true. The salary for the position is £146k and has risen in line with national and local pay agreements.

“It is considerably less than the salaries of other Essex local authority chief executives and chief fire officers of other smaller services.”

Mr Johnson also gets the benefit of a car scheme and £20,000 from Essex County Council for taking on an emergency planning role.

However, Mr Hedley denied FBU claims of “generous benefits”, adding: “I am not aware of what ‘generous benefits’ are referred to, as none exist.”

Other fire officers are also said to have seen their pay increase. The union says fire service treasurer Mike Clayton has seen his basic pay has rise from £65,000 to £128,000, but Mr Hedley said Mr Clayton’s salary had actually gone from £75,621 in 2005 to £111,200 and reflected “additional roles and responsibilities”.

Mr Hedley also criticised the union for its continual scrutiny, which was hitting taxpayers in the pocket.

He hinted that an extra member of staff may have to be employed to deal with the number of Freedom of Information requests being sent into the service.

He added: “Up to the end of 2010 the union directly cost the taxpayers of Essex in excess of £250,000 a year.”

Baroness Angela Smith of Basildon has raised the rows in the House of Lords and hopes the relationship between firefighters and fire chiefs can be salvaged.

She said: “There’s a lot of mistrust on both sides now and it’s not going to be easy to put it right.

“Mr Hedley is up to the job, but that’s where his focus needs to be.

“Nobody wants to see relationships deteriorate further.”