A PILOT scheme which would have enabled Haslemere firefighters to become the first fire crews in Surrey to carry equipment which would save heart attack victims will not now go ahead.

The co-responder scheme which would have involved retained fire crews in the town carrying automatic defibrillator kits in their cabs, was set to be introduced in May.

It was given the thumbs-up by Surrey County Council as a way of helping people who suffer a heart attack, working alongside the town's emergency services to help people who suffer heart attacks.

But members of the Fire Brigade Unions decided at their national conference to reject the co-responder scheme.

The chief fire officer for Surrey Martin Kitchen told the Herald: "I am disappointed that the FBU policy is that it will not accept their members undertaking this type of work."

Haslemere's Surrey county councillor Christine Stevens said she too was "disappointed".

"It would have provided an extra and welcome emergency arm which potentially would have saved lives."

She said the scheme was part of a government initiative to reduce death from coronary heart disease.

But Chris Carlier, the Fire Brigade secretary for Surrey, said that he did not believe the scheme was "in the best interests of the public".

"Quite simply it is because when people dial 999 for an ambulance they expect a properly trained paramedic to answer the call and not a firefighter," he said.

"As firefighters we do not want to turn out to a cardiac arrest."

And he added: "This is not about politics, it is about serving the best interests of the public," said Mr Carlier.

While agreeing with the need to save lives at all costs he believed that by asking firefighters to turn out to a medical emergency could be "unwise and dangerous".

And he repeated his comments made earlier this year when he said he worried that they "will be killing people instead of saving lives."