Firefighters could be called out to medical emergencies to help paramedics save more lives.

Brigade bosses hope Oxfordshire County Council will fund the scheme to use firefighters as community responders, who would attend 999 calls and give potential heart attack victims life-saving treatment until paramedics arrived.

But the Fire Brigade Union has criticised the proposals, claiming they should not put their own duties at risk by helping the under-resourced ambulance service.

Oxfordshire Ambulance Trust already uses community volunteers, like St John Ambulance members, to respond rapidly to emergencies before paramedics.

They are trained to use defibrillator machines to restart people's hearts after an attack.

Ambulance managers held talks with Oxfordshire Fire Service about adding its retained staff to the responders team, but the idea was scrapped because firefighters would expect payment for every call-out.

John Hurren, Oxfordshire Fire Brigade deputy chief fire officer, was disappointed the idea had stalled, but is due to discuss the issue with councillors to see whether the county council could fund the scheme.

He said: "Firefighters are already doing a professional service and if we call them out then we have to make a payment for that. So the ambulance trust has decided they don't want to pursue it.

"I think we would have added value for people in the community. We would have provided a very professional and reliable service that would have been there long term. "The door is still open as far as we're concerned. I'm not able to offer a free service, but if the county council reimbursed the call-out costs we'd be happy to start."

Barry Stockford, brigade secretary for the Fire Brigade Union in Oxfordshire, said his colleagues had concerns about the scheme.

He said: "We don't consider it to be our job. There should be a properly funded ambulance service. We also have concerns about our own fire cover at times when firefighters are responding to health problems.

"There's a large number of health and safety issues. Not all call-outs would be for heart attack patients who need defibrillating, and we're not trained to deal with that."

Oxfordshire Ambulance Trust operations director Damian Jolly said firefighters' help would be welcomed.

He said: "If Oxfordshire Fire Service decides to ask the county council for funding the Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust would support them in that approach.

"We fund the training, equipment and support services for schemes, but the individuals concerned act on an entirely voluntary basis."