“We need more firefighters” says union

FIRE and rescue services won’t be ready for major threats to the UK without more firefighters, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) warned today.
New figures show brigades have faced the Covid-19 pandemic with 11,237 fewer firefighters than in 2010.
The combined threats of climate change related events such as flooding and wildfires, pandemics, terrorism, and the post-Grenfell building safety crisis will require the immediate funding for at least 5,000 firefighters in the next year, the union says.
Without additional crews, the public face a “roll of the dice” every time a major incident occurs, with firefighters hoping that it won’t coincide with another serious emergency. If the pandemic had broken out during mass-flooding earlier this year, the FBU warns firefighters might not have been able to support the pandemic response.
It comes as new figures reveal the UK has lost more than 11,000 firefighters and control room staff since 2010, a 19 per cent drop in numbers.
The staffing shortage has caused many fire and rescue services to send out fire engines with just three firefighters on board, fewer than the minimum five required to safety perform a rescue or tackle a fire.
Non-fire incidents have soared by 12 per cent over the last decade. Firefighters responded to 162,251 non-fire incidents last year – more than the total number of fires. Surges in flooding and assisting other agencies drove a six per cent increase from 2018-19 to 2019-20.
The FBU is today launching its #FundTheFrontline campaign, in which firefighters and members of the public will be asked to write to their MPs demanding urgent investment in the government’s one-year spending review.
Firefighters took on 14 new activities to respond to the first wave of the pandemic, including moving dead bodies, driving ambulances, and delivering Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The peak of Covid-19 response operations fell after firefighters were stretched by mass flooding and before they were called out to wildfires.
Firefighters are major frontline responders to 11 of the 12 risks in the UK government’s national risk register, which includes pandemics; severe weather; coastal and inland flooding; major industrial accidents; as well as attacks on transport; crowded places and critical national infrastructure; and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear attacks.
The government’s Building Safety and Fire Safety Bills, intended to tackle the building safety crisis exposed by Grenfell, represent enormous increases in firefighters’ inspection, prevention, and enforcement work, without providing funding to hire more personnel.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Be it mass flooding and wildfires caused by climate change, huge post-Grenfell building safety challenges, terrorist attacks; or pandemics, firefighters are an all hazards emergency service on the frontline protecting the UK from the vast majority of major threats.
“But a decade of devastating cuts means that we can only effectively handle one of these crises at a time. The brutal reality is that, if and when mass-flooding or another major emergency hits this winter, it could impact firefighters’ ability to aid the pandemic response, or respond to another major incident.
”Increasingly, each time one of these major emergencies break out, the public face a roll of the dice, hoping that more than one won’t come at once – and it’s only a matter of time until we lose that gamble.
“Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak need to recognise the scale of risk faced by the public and fund the frontline firefighters who keep people safe. We need at least 5,000 new firefighters immediately to repair some of the damage austerity has done to our service and prepare for the risks of today and tomorrow.”