Meddling Eurocrats are putting the West's vital firefighting services at risk by imposing restrictions on working hours.

Rural brigades face losing more than half of their firefighters if controversial EU red tape is imposed on the UK, campaigners warn.

They have attacked moves to force Britain to adopt the controversial European Working Time Directive in full.

It could leave the part-time, retained fire service "unviable" as it would be illegal for anyone to be employed for more than 48 hours a week.

There will be a particular problem in rural West shires, which rely heavily on retained firefighters, many of whom hold down full-time day jobs on top of their commitment to the fire service.

They currently make up 61.4 per cent of all firefighter posts in Devon & Somerset, 57pc in Wiltshire, 54pc in both Dorset and Gloucestershire and 52pc in Hereford and Worcester.

In contrast, they form less than 19pc in Avon, which is more urban.

The UK has long been granted an "opt-out" to the Directive, but following a recent vote by the European Parliament it is due to be scrapped in 2012.

It would mean many retained firefighters would be unable legally to juggle both jobs.

Retained firefighters earn on average between £5,000 and £8,000 a year for agreeing to be available for up to 120 hours a week.

Replacing them with 24-hour whole-time cover would be extremely expensive, leading to fears the coverage and reliability of the service would suffer.

Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said: "The position of retained firefighters in an excellent example of how the working time directive could have a very severe effect on one of the most important public services.

"This is particularly acute in rural areas but will affect communities the length and breadth of the UK, both rural and urban.

"The working time directive would be a threat to the viability of this service, and the provision of firefighters could be fatally undermined."

Fellow Lib Dem frontbencher John Thurso warned: "We would be forced to accept a lower level of cover, and it could take hours rather than minutes to attend some fires."

He said it could also result in a massive drop in safety, as local residents banded together to tackle blazes themselves.

John Barton, general secretary of the Retained Firefighters' Union, said: "If we lost this opt-out then the retained fire service becomes unviable. If people are using up to 48 hours in their primary employment, they haven't got any hours left to devote to public service."

RFU president Adrian Hughes said 91 per cent of the UK's land mass was covered by the retained service. "If you lose the opt-out it's going to hit us very hard," he said.

"The worst case scenario is that you are no longer going to be able to rely on retained cover."

Employment Minister Pat McFadden said the Government was fighting to keep the UK's opt-out.

"On the working hours of retained firefighters, my information is that about 10 per cent of firefighters who work in the retained duty system already work 49 hours or more for their primary employer, and a further 25 per cent work between 41 and 48 hours.

"It is clear what effect the opt-out could have on that group of workers," he said.