HAMPSHIRE firefighters attended more than 10,000 medical calls a year – more than any other fire service, new figures show.

Trained fire crews stabilise seriously ill or injured people until the ambulance service arrives, potentially saving hundreds of lives.

The co-responder partnership between Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) and South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) has been running for 13 years, and accounts for 40 percent of all co-responder calls across the UK.

It has since been rolled out by other fire and rescue services.

There are currently 19 co-responder vehicles operating from 22 on-call fire stations, and in the past three years HFRS has attended 31,806 medical calls.

All Hampshire firefighters have been trained in immediate emergency care to enable them to respond to medical incidents.

Station manager Dave Heybourne said: “Our firefighter co-responders give up their spare time to help people in their communities.

“This is partnership-working at its very best. Our co-responders have saved many, many lives in conjunction with SCAS during the past 13 years.

“It has provided the foundations for other collaborative work aimed at making Hampshire safer.

“The special work our co-responders do help build even greater trust and mutual respect between our two organisations.”

Councillor Chris Carter, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Chairman, added: “It is this kind of innovation and pioneering work that helps keep the people of Hampshire safe while giving the public the best possible value for money.

“It is gratifying to see other services looking to us and taking our ideas and successes back to their drill yards.”

Group manager Nigel Cooper said: “With firefighters attending an increasing number of medical calls, supporting our ambulance colleagues helps to improve response times to medical incidents, builds capacity within SCAS, and ultimately helps make Hampshire a safer place.”