SCOTLAND'S fire service is being left without enough emergency cover to deal safely with house blazes, the firefighters' union has warned.

The union said it received daily reports about not enough firefighters being sent to domestic fires.

Ministers were urged to intervene amid claims of "unsafe" staffing levels in light of the Grenfell disaster and UK terror attacks.

The Scottish Fire Brigades Union (FBU) attacked the state of provision as "irresponsible".

FBU official Chris McGlone warned that public and firefighter safety was being compromised by austerity.

McGlone said 1,000 firefighter posts had been lost in Scotland since 2010. He said the Scottish Government must place a "moratorium on further cuts" as a first step.

However, he said that following the Grenfell tower block fire and terror attacks in Manchester and London, staffing levels should be increased.

Under an agreement between the FBU and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), nine firefighters and two engines must be sent to each house fire.

But McGlone said that the “safe delivery service model for house fires is being breached”.

He added: "On a daily basis we are getting reports from our firefighters that it's unsafe.

"There's an agreement between the FBU and the service that for house fires there will be two fire engines with nine personnel, the first with five firefighters and the second with four. That's supposed to allow them to operate a safe model of work.

"But we're getting daily reports from firefighters that the safe service delivery model is being breached.

"The breaching of that crewing model is compromising firefighter and public safety.

"There has to be a moratorium on further cuts and there needs to be real investment in recruitment and replacing firefighters that retire."

He added: "The reality of it is that there are 1,000 less firefighters than there were seven years ago."

Lewis Ramsay, the SFRS director of response and resilience, admitted the service was facing severe funding pressures.

He said: "While we will continue to fight hard for funding, we recognise that all public services are seeing unprecedented budget pressures."

However, a Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are investing in Scotland’s world-class Fire and Rescue Service and have increased the overall operational budget this year by £21.7m to support investment in equipment and resources."