Concerns have been raised over Wilmslow’s fire cover following a blaze in Styal in which a woman was injured.

Eight engines tackled the blaze at Wilkin Farm on Moss Lane, next to Manchester Airport, on Saturday night – but there was no crew available in Wilmslow.

A caravan and several temporary buildings were gutted in the flames.

A woman suffered burns to her face, arms and hands during the fire.

Nearby homes were evacuated amid fears that 30 gas cylinders could explode from the heat of the flames.

Neighbours had rushed in to fight the fire themselves using hose pipes and helped to rescue the family’s belongings until fire crews arrived. Fire union bosses and residents said they believed that there could have been a quicker response if a Wilmslow crew had been available.

Wilmslow’s full-time overnight crew was cut in 2009, leaving only retained firefighters working from home to respond to emergencies.

A spokesman for Cheshire fire service admitted that had firefighters from Wilmslow been available they would have been expected to arrive at the scene a few minutes sooner, but added that it would have made little difference in tackling the blaze.

The Fire Brigades’ Union has criticised the move to cut full time overnight crews at the Wilmslow station saying that the use of on-call crews adds vital minutes to response times.

The union is worried about the availability of the on-call crew at Wilmslow.

Concerns have also been raised over plans to cut the full-time overnight crew at Macclesfield. Stuart Hammond, 46, chairman of Cheshire Fire Brigades Union and a firefighter in Macclesfield for 20 years, was at the blaze.

He said: “If the Wilmslow crew had been available they would have known about accessing water in the area.

“The changes are not working in Wilmslow. They are having to bring in officers on overtime to stay at the station on call.

“You can have all the stations you want but it’s no good if there are no crews.

“Fires double every minute and these cuts are taking their toll.”

MaccFireCover – a campaign against the Macclesfield cuts – tweeted after the Styal fire:  ‘If Wilmslow still had a 90-second turnout it would have been a small fire. 

‘Luckily no lives were lost’.

A 21-year-old neighbour of the family, who lives on Moss Lane but did not want to be named, said: “We risked our lives using hose pipes and doing all we could to hold off the fire until the crews arrived.

“If there had been a Wilmslow crew it would have been a different story.

“It’s very worrying they are planning to cut the Macclesfield crew too.”

The fire at the farm was reported at 8.47pm and the first crew from Poynton arrived at 9.01pm, before one from Macclesfield at 9.07pm and more through the night.

Firefighters believe the blaze started in a chip pan.

Crews from Cheadle, Knutsford, Bollington, Altrincham, Macclesfield, Stockton Heath and Congleton attended, as well as the control unit from Northwich.

The fire spread to a 50-metre square area and crews were there until after midnight.

A Moss Lane resident said: “The fire was very intense and there was thick black smoke.

“I heard what sounded like explosions and was worried about our horses in a nearby field so we moved them away.”

Crews couldn’t get enough water from the hydrants on Moss Lane so had to pull water from a resident’s pond.

Terry McDermott, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Head of Service Delivery, said: “The firefighters who attended the incident in Styal over the weekend did a fantastic job in tackling what was a difficult and challenging blaze.

“The first fire engine, from Poynton, was on the scene within 14 minutes of us being called out to the incident, with a crew from Macclesfield quickly behind them.

“If Wilmslow had been available we would have expected it to be there a few minutes quicker, however, this would have made little difference in this case as it took more than three hours to tackle the blaze.

“It is not unusual for crews to attend incidents outside their own station area, this is something that happens on a regular basis across Cheshire.

“What I would like to stress is that this fire, which we believe was caused by an unattended chip pan, could have been avoided, I would urge everyone to take extra care when preparing food.

“Leaving hot fat cooking is a recipe for disaster, please don’t do it and if a fire does break out do not attempt to tackle it yourselves. Get out, stay out and call us out.

“If anyone wants any further information about how to keep themselves and their properties safe from fire please visit our website cheshirefire.gov.uk.”