Households will be faced with a simple choice over the future of Shropshire’s fire service – pay a few pence a week more in council tax or lose up to five fire stations.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, which has set out savings of £3 million, has to find another £1 million in savings by 2015. But the service is now at the point where, unless it finds extra income, frontline services will have to go.

Chief Fire Officer Paul Raymond said: “In my professional view I must advise everyone that cutting the service that far will increase risk for local people.”

Firefighters have volunteered their time to go out and about this weekend to ask people if they would be willing to pay another 2-4p each week on top of the £1.20 of council tax that now pays for the fire service.

Mr Raymond said: “We want the people of Shropshire to directly tell us their views and I feel that the best way possible is for them to talk face-to-face with their local firefighters who live and work in our towns and villages across Shropshire.”

Retained firefighters – those who also have other full-time jobs and who operate out of 22 of the county’s 23 fire stations – have volunteered to ask people for their thoughts. The county’s fire service is one of the most poorly funded in the UK despite being voted one of the best run brigades.

Fire authority chairman Stuart West said that he hoped people would see how important their fire and rescue service was and see if they were willing to pay an extra few pence a week to protect it.

He said: “We will listen to the public’s view before we make our decision but I hope they will see the significant difference a few pence per week can make to this essential public service.”

Firefighters will begin consulting with the public from Saturday.

Over the past two years the fire service has made severe financial cuts including reducing senior incident commanders by 25 per cent, cutting firefighters by 10 per cent and outsourcing office work while still delivering an effective 999 service.

A recruitment freeze began in 2009 with pay frozen in 2010 and 2011 and any pay rises in 2012 and 2013 capped to one per cent. This year alone, the service stripped out more than £1 million in costs.