Cuts to the number of fire engines in Waltham Forest could cause “life or death” delays, it is feared.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is proposing to reduce the number of vehicles based at Chingford, Leyton and Leytonstone fire stations from two to one as part of efforts to save £45.5 million over two years.

But new ward-by-ward statistics released by the LFB show the reductions could mean response times to fires requiring a second vehicle fall outside the desired eight-minute target.

The brigade had previously insisted residents would not be put at greater risk and that crews would still be able to hit their targets of attending a fire within six minutes for the first engine and within eight for the second.

Fire crews were called to 105 incidents in the Chingford Green ward in 2011/12, and second fire engines reached call-outs over the last three years in an average of 6mins 44 secs.

Under the proposed cuts that response time increases by almost three minutes to 9mins 39secs.

In Endlebury ward the average response time is 5mins 43secs, which would drop to 9mins 2secs according to the LFB’s figures.

Gordon Wilkinson, of the Dale View Residents' Association, who lives in Endlebury ward, said the delays could make the difference between someone being saved or not.

He said: “That amount of time can mean life or death for people. It’s a question of arriving just in time or a minute too late.

“It’s really shocking. Fire engines are too important to be cutting them in this way.”

Other wards also predicted to have delays beyond the eight-minute mark are Chapel End, High Street, Higham Hill, Hoe Street, Markhouse, Valley and William Morris.

But the average increase of response times comes in at 50 seconds across all 20 wards.

Gail Penfold, chairwoman of the Walthamstow Stadium Area Residents' Association, added: “Three minutes can lose a whole floor of a house in a fire.

“We were talking about one minute delays before, now it seems much more.”

David Cartwright, the representative of Mayor of London Boris Johnson on the fire authority, said the allocation of resources was flexible and that Waltham Forest could get more in future if there was a need.

A consultation into the cuts is under way and will continue until June 17.

For more information visit www.london-fire.gov.uk/lsp5.asp.

An LFB spokeswoman said: "The proposals currently out for public consultation seek to maintain our London-wide response targets, which as a London-wide fire brigade is how we plan the service we provide.

“The ward level data shows how varied response times are across the capital. As is the case now, over half of all London wards would, on average, continue to get a first response within the six minute target if the proposals are agreed.

"London would continue to receive a very good service, compared to other emergency services and other parts of the country."