The last engine being cut from the fire service under plans to save more than £1million will leave the Bury St Edmunds station next week, with fire chiefs vowing that residents will remain safe.

The move will leave Bury with one full time crew and one voluntary retained crew operating two fire engines alongside several specialist units, which are not being cut.

The staff at the Bury fire station were told today that the engine will be taken off the run for the final time on Tuesday January 10.

The engine is the last of four appliances being taken out of service across Suffolk, with one in Lowestoft and two in Ipswich removed between August and November last year.

Speaking today, deputy chief fire officer Dan Fearn said: “We will be closely monitoring attendance times and the performance of Bury fire engines and the other fire stations over the period the fire engines are removed and into the future.”

He added: “There will be no further budget reductions until the end of the spending review period [2020].”

Group Commander Ken Williamson, who is overseeing the changes in Bury, said the service will remain safe for residents in the area.

“We are confident we can provide a very good service and a safe service after the appliance has been removed,” he said.

They stressed that none of the specialist appliances based in Bury would be lost, and that across Suffolk there will be and have been no redundancies.

Mr Fearn added: “Bury fire station will maintain its water rescue, animal rescue, Multistar aerial appliance and off road vehicle capability.”

He said that the fire service, run by Suffolk County Council, made every effort it could to reduce costs without effecting frontline services before the decision was taken to implement the latest round of cuts.

“The reduction in staff will be managed through normal workforce turnover. There will be no fire station closures or firefighter redundancies in Suffolk and officers will continue to work with staff and trade unions to facilitate as smooth a transition as possible,” he added. “Our focus remains firmly on providing a good emergency service for the people of Suffolk.”

The Bury station is due to get the latest in battery operated equipment in the coming weeks, while like several other stations across Suffolk, they have joined forces with the ambulance service to share facilities.

Phil Johnston, chairman of the Suffolk brigade of the Fire Brigades Union, said the service is already operating at unsafe levels of staffing.

“They are going to lose 16 wholetime through natural wastage and each station that is affected is going to see a reduction of about five on call,” he said.

“The service is not effective as it is across Suffolk, never mind just in Bury, that is the union’s view – so these cuts will not leave us with a safe service.”