Rescue ladders will not be automatically sent to fires under plans to modernise the East Sussex service.

From April next year, aerial ladder platforms and turntable ladder vehicles used to reach people trapped in high buildings will not be dispatched until they are requested by an officer at the scene.

Speaking at a fire authority meeting in Eastbourne, Des Prichard, chief fire officer for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, said most incidents did not require the aerial vehicles.

The proposal is one of several measures which have been set out in a booklet to go out to public consultation following approval by members of the authority yesterday.

Other proposed changes include the introduction of response time targets for road crashes and a shake-up of the way automatic fire alarms are treated.

One fire engine and crew instead of two could be sent to fire alarms triggered automatically in offices and other buildings.

Mr Prichard said in seven years there had been more than 30,000 calls from automated fire detection systems across East Sussex and only 152 had been fires.

Steve Petch, who represents Brighton for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said: "It's like leaving a vital piece of rescue equipment back at the station and then going back for it. If we have to make a rescue we have to do it very quickly."