Buckinghamshire has seen the second highest drop in firefighter numbers over the last five years, according to government figures.

Workforce numbers released by the Home Office show firefighter numbers have plunged in Bucks since 2010, with a decrease of more than 30 per cent.

According to the figures, Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service had 555 firefighters in 2010-11 and 381 in 2015-16 – a drop of 31.35 per cent.

The figure includes fire crew employed full-time by Bucks Fire as well as on-call or “retained” firefighters who have the same training as full-time crews but are not employed full-time by the department.

Bucks Fire defended the figures, saying they do not reflect the fact that it currently has 20 firefighter apprentices who have almost completed their first year, neither does it take into account that the authority has had no firefighter redundancies.

Spokesman Fraser Pearson said: “Unlike the situation in other parts of the country, during the period in question, we have not closed any fire stations or reduced the number of fire and rescue appliances we have.

“We have also been advertising to recruit transferees from other fire and rescue services.

“In the face of several years of cuts to our budget, we have had to find ways of making do with less, rather than doing less.”

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said the country’s fire and rescue services were being “cut to the bone” and needed more investments, not cuts.

He said: “After a tragedy like Grenfell Tower, the public need to feel safe.

“It is very clear just how badly we need adequate numbers of professional, trained firefighters to tackle these sorts of, thankfully, rare disasters.

Continued cuts to frontline firefighters and emergency fire control operators – these jobs have been cut by 25 per cent for the same period – are a serious threat to public safety.

“These new figures are very concerning indeed. Our fire and rescue service is being cut to the bone – it needs investment, not more cuts.”