A union representing firefighters across the region has said residents are being left in danger as the number of fire engines plummeted during a major incident.

Some ten fire engines were called to a huge blaze in a Hastings high rise block last weekend, pulling in resources from across East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.

But another 13 fire engines were also unavailable at the time of the inferno, meaning resources elsewhere in the county across its 24 stations were stretched to their limits. The service even called on Kent Fire and Rescue Service for support.

The Argus: The fire in HastingsThe fire in Hastings (Image: Simon Offen)

It has 44 fire engines in its fleet, according to a recent response to a freedom of information request, meaning 52 per cent of the fire service's vehicles were either busy or unavailable at the time of the fire in Havelock Road, Hastings.

A spokesman for the Fire Brigades Union, which represents firefighters and staff within the fire service, said: "East Sussex residents and its firefighters are being left dangerously under resourced when fires happen."

The fire service has told The Argus that it kicked in well-rehearsed plans to ensure no corner of the county was left without firefighters.

Crews arrived at the scene of the fire shortly after 4.20pm on Saturday, July 1. Aerial ladder platforms and control units also attended.

A spokeswoman for the service said: "We have a number of supporting policies and procedures in place for large scale incidents which include providing cover moves and combining crews to give additional resources.

These were initiated immediately once the scale of the Hastings fire was known and we maintained our standards of fire cover, in line with our policy, allowing us to respond to further incidents with no calls missed."

The fire was confirmed to be in the basement of the building but all eight floors were affected by the rising smoke.

Three more fire engines were made available from on-call stations. The spokeswoman added: "As is common practice during large scale incidents, mutual aid was requested from Kent Fire & Rescue Service, who provided support during the busy period."