Fire service jobs in the county are to be axed as the brigade faces up to a “staggering” £20 million cut in funding over four years.

Fire chiefs in West Yorkshire have started consulting on a new strategy that will underpin “unprecedented operational and structural change.”

While frontline services are likely to be protected, the cuts will mean “fundamental change” in the back office.

Support services such as catering, training and fire safety inspections are likely to be among the worst-hit.

West Yorkshire Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling said: “Every job in every department has been scrutinised but we hope, at least in the first instance, that any job losses can be on a voluntary basis.

“A further announcement about early severance arrangements will be made later this month.

“Work will also begin immediately on a sweeping review of emergency cover across the whole county.”

Mr Pilling said the fire service had surpassed all expectations for reducing fire deaths, injuries and malicious calls.

But he said: “We must now find ways of maintaining that performance through the most turbulent economic times the brigade has ever known.

“The exact scale of the challenge will not be known until central Government announces the results of its comprehensive spending review in the autumn but we could face a £20 million cut in grants between 2011 and 2015.

“That’s a staggering figure but I fear it will probably not be far off the mark.”

Mark Wilson, secretary of the Fire Brigades Union in West Yorkshire, said there were so many “imponderables”, including the Government’s comprehensive spending review, that it was difficult to “look into the murk” and speculate what the outcome would be.

Mr Wilson said it was “good news” that there were no compulsory redundancies proposed at present and that there was a desire on all parts to protect firefighters’ jobs.

Councillor David Ridgway, who is chairman of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, said Mr Pilling’s recommendations were “sensible and prudent”.

He said: “We may look like a very different organisation by 2015 but our key operational priorities will remain constant.”

A 12-week consultation process is now under way and the deadline for representations is December 11.

e-mail: will.kilner @telegraphandargus.co.uk