Watch manager Tony Kent this week said he had not even thought about the Albert Street site closing as it provides such a vital service.

He said: "The public need us to protect the things they love most.

"What's happened was disruptive but as a station watch manager I have to carry on doing my job.

"We can't fight it with politics, only honesty and integrity. We have to be confident."

Mr Kent has worked at the site for 19 years and believes his retained station is one of the best in the county.

Proposed changes to Warwickshire's fire cover were revealed last September and could spell the end for six more stations including Kenilworth and Fenny Compton.

So far, more than 12,000 Warwick residents have signed a petition against the plans and thousands of protesters marched through the town in December to oppose the cuts.

Mr Kent's team includes 13 retained firefighters who are on call for more than 100 hours a week - meaning their wages work out to around 68p an hour.

Firefighter and union representative George Pare said: "Me not working here doesn't make much of a difference financially. Nobody here does it for the money.

"We are on schedule to attend 600 calls this year. Does that really sound like a station which can close?"

Three of the crew have recently been offered full-time posts in Rugby and Nuneaton and can continue to provide additional cover in Warwick if it stays open.

Ben Cleminson has been working at the site for almost a year and always wanted to become a fireman.

The 25-year-old works at McDonald's in Queensway, Leamington, during the day to subsidise his wages.

He explained crew members were hurt by plans to close the facility and said: "It is stressful.

"It's something that's always in the back of your mind and I always worry it is going to happen.

"To serve my community is fantastic and is something I have always wanted to do.

"But to get the opportunity and then for it to look like it will be taken away is a horrible feeling."

Mr Cleminson has lived in Warwick for 13 years and took the petition to Downing Street last year where Prime Minister Gordon Brown added his name to the list.

Public consultation on the proposals ended in December and Warwickshire county councillors were due to announce their decision this month. But this has been postponed indefinitely.

Warwick station costs £100,000 a year to run and the crew has attended 55 incidents since January 1, including traffic collisions and kitchen fires. Some 11 of these happened in Leamington and four occurred elsewhere in the county. In 2009, the crew was called out 450 times.