Residents in Helston and the Lizard are once again being asked to fight for the future of an emergency medical service that has helped save hundreds of lives on the peninsula.

A public meeting is being held next week to discuss the local co-responder scheme, which sees firefighters based at Helston, Mullion and St Keverne provide an emergency response in life-threatening medical situations.

The scheme first faced the axe a year ago, but was granted a temporary reprieve following a public outcry including a petition signed by almost 2,000 people.

Funding provided to continue the service for another 12 months is due to run out at the end of March and it is feared the scheme may once again be under threat when county councillors meet to discuss their budget later this month.

Representatives from the fire and ambulance services, as well as county, district and parish councillors and local MPs are being invited to attend a meeting at Mawgan recreation hall at 7.30pm next Friday, January 12.

Helston town clerk Chris Dawson, who is helping organise the meeting, said it was hoped local people who had fought for the scheme a year ago would be prepared to speak out once again. He said: "We have invited some key county councillors because we want them to hear at first hand the depth of feeling there is about this scheme. Hopefully they will take that on board and bear it in mind when they are setting their budget later this month."

People living in the more remote areas of The Lizard were horrified at the prospect of losing the co-responder service. Campaigners said lives could be put at risk if patients had to wait for an ambulance instead of being given initial emergency treatment by trained firefighters who were near at hand and had intimate knowledge of the local area.

The sum required to run the scheme - in the region of £40,000 a year - was described as minimal, bearing in mind the invaluable service the firefighters were providing.