Fears Riverina fire brigades will be offline in staff shortages

The Fire Brigade Employees Union has raised concerns about a push to take the Berrigan and Finley stations temporarily offline in the event of a staff shortage.

The Fire and Rescue NSW sites are staffed by other firefighters at overtime rates when numbers get low.

But union state secretary Martin Dixon said under a new proposal, the stations would instead be temporarily closed when there weren't enough staff.

"We need the community to support our local firefighters, who are of course at the centre of this proposal," he said.

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"They are doing their best to maintain this vital service, and their employer wants to throw them aside and allow their local community to be exposed."

Fire trucks from other areas would be on call to cover the areas if the stations were closed.

Mr Dixon said the union was "fighting hard to stop this proposal through every way possible".

Fire and Rescue NSW deputy commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said any closures would only occur if there were "more than sufficient resources in the area to respond to emergencies".

"These decisions are based on data including ongoing incident response coverage of the area by other nearby appliances," he said.

"Each fire truck and its crew is a mobile resource available to respond wherever it is needed."

The case will return to the commission on October 20.

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