A regional daily has launched a campaign in protest at the axeing of full-time fire crews in a town on its patch.

Suffolk County Council has decided to axe full-time crews in Felixstowe – Britain’s biggest container port with scores of major offices and depots.

Fire chiefs have admitted it will take longer for crews to reach the scene of fires in the town, which is also a popular resort packed with hotels and guest houses.

Now the Evening Star, which publishes an edition in the town, has launched a bid to persuade the authority to think again.

Editor Nigel Pickover described the move as one the Evening Star’s most important campaigns.

“Fire chiefs think it is acceptable that the people of Felixstowe should get an inferior fire and rescue service to other parts of our region,” he said.

“So we have drawn a line in Felixstowe’s sand – and told them we will fight their proposals at every turn.

“And we’ve told them that as the plans are so bizarre and unwarranted that we’ll take a look into all their current proposals, including a plan to kill off a locally-based fire control for the county.

The Evening Star launched the campaign this week on the paper’s website, on Facebook and on Twitter as well as in print.

Posters have beem going at shops, offices and fire stations around the area and a print and online petition is being launched.

Yesterday the paper featured a front page from April 29 this year when a woman died in a bungalow fire in Felixstowe.

At the time fire bosses stressed how quickly flames had spread through the property.