More than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for a reversal of cuts to Surrey Fire and Rescue

It comes after Queen guitarist Brian May spoke out in support of the service following wildfires near his home earlier this month.

Norbiton based Fire Brigades Union claims there were nine fire engines unavailable yesterday due to understaffing.

A SFRS spokesman says: “We are aware that this petition has been raised and will be responding formally when it is tabled at a future council meeting.

“Regarding the recent Chobham Common fire - we know that sufficient fire cover was in attendance at this incident to bring it under control and deliver our firefighting purpose.

“The safety of the public and welfare of everyone is and, always will be, paramount. It was part of the multi-agency strategic approach and coordination of the incident and a Welfare Officer is always on site to ensure staff wellbeing. Our crews have food and drink rations on our fire engines at all times and provisions are in place to ensure that they have ongoing food and drink at longer incidents, as well as sun protection.

“The Making Surrey Safer Plan looked into our 999 calls over the past five years, using predictive data which shows us where risk is and emergency statistics. This showed us that we had more fire engine availability at night than was needed and not enough investment in fire engine cover in the daytime and importantly very little prevention and protection activities being undertaken in the day.

“Our plan rebalanced these resources so that we can provide better fire cover during the day when we are busier and focus on preventing incidents from happening in the first place, including the hiring of two Rural Affairs Officers who will work with landowners to reduce future wildfires.”