The fire crew which was sent in place of an ambulance in West Yorkshire to attend a man having a heart attack was not an isolated case, the BBC has learned.

A survey for Radio 4's Today programme revealed 17 out of 55 fire services in England and Wales are being used in medical emergencies when no ambulances are available.

On Monday, firefighters were sent to attend to Andrew Clarkson who had collapsed at his home in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, but were unable to save his life.

We need an ambulance service ready to respond when people need it and a fire service there for fires

Andy Gilchrist Fire Brigades Union

It has emerged that emergency services all over the country are sharing responsibilities in a bid to meet government-set response times.

The Fire Brigades Union called the arrangement a "mad-cap" idea.

General secretary Andy Gilchrist said the fire service was already over-stretched and under-funded.

Response times

"We can't cover for the police or the ambulance service," he told the Today programme.

"It's already cost the life of an individual in West Yorkshire. Nobody in the fire service signed up to see people die.

"We need an ambulance service ready to respond when people need it and a fire service there for fires."

The response times of fire engines to medical emergencies can be included in ambulance response time figures.

But Derek Chadbon, general secretary of the Retained Firefighters Union, said the scheme were of valuable assistance in rural and remote areas.

He added: "In an ideal world we would have an ambulance just around the corner when an emergency arises but this is the real world."

Government targets

Liberal Democrat MP Sandra Gidley, who sits on the health select committee, said: "We're not focussing on what's best for the public but we're focussing on how to make government targets."

She added that when people call for an ambulance "they want to see an ambulance".

"Ambulances are designed for taking people to hospital, not fire engines," she said.

Richard Bull, president of the Chief and Assistant Fire Officers Association, said arrangements had been made between local services to use resources "in the best possible way".

It was, he said, a "partnership to save lives".

"This is not a cover up for ambulances failing to make their standards," he told Today.

"When people are suffering from a cardiac arrest, early intervention is essential.

"That's why not only the fire service is trying to assist but also people in leisure and shopping centres who are being trained to use automatic defibrillators by the British Heart Foundation."

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