A CAMPAIGN to stop the axe falling on fire control centres has hit Hampshire's shopping centres.

Firefighters and fire control staff drove home the message by handing out leaflets, balloons, and car stickers to shoppers at Hedge End Retail Park yesterday.

It is part of a week-long 'public at risk' awareness campaign running across the south over Whitehall proposals for regional fire control centres.

The government plans to close 46 existing fire control centres in England and replace them with just nine giant regional control centres.

Control staff jobs will be cut from 1,500 to only 600 in England. It comes at a time when emergency calls are increasing.

The controversial plans would mean the closure of fire control in Eastleigh and the building of a new regional centre anywhere in the south-east to cover an area from Kent in the east to Dorset in the west and from the Isle of Wight in the south to Northamptonshire in the north.

Sharon Eames, Fire Brigades Union control staff representative for the south, said: "We have had a fantastic response from the public.

"Most people were very surprised and shocked with what the government has in store for our control rooms.

"Professional fire control operators know there is no way they can provide the same level of excellent service to local residents if these plans go ahead.

"In the south you only have to look at the fiasco surrounding air traffic control at Swanwick which was years late and millions of pounds over budget.

"To mess around with public safety in this way is sheer madness. We call upon the government to rethink its plans for fire controls before it is too late and lives are lost."

Today the campaign was set to roll into the shopping streets of Winchester.

Tomorrow it will switch to Eastleigh's Swan shopping centre.