FBU members were at the sharp end of things as deadly floods hit the UK once again. Barrie Clement reports
Firefighters were seriously overstretched during devastating storms which hit large parts of the UK in October.
The weather caused misery to thousands and highlighted the urgent need for far more resources for fire and rescue services in England in particular.
A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) echoed a point continually made by the FBU – that brigades in England should have a statutory duty to respond to floods and the resources to match – a system already in place in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Cuts to firefighter jobs and station closures, has made the situation considerably worse.
Some of my colleagues spent six or seven hours waist-deep in flood water, trying to evacuate houses
Referring to Storm Babet which laid waste to large areas of the UK between 18 and 21 October, Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said firefighters and control staff were working round the clock to respond.
“The climate crisis means that extreme weather events are on the rise, but the Westminster government still refuses to adequately fund the fire service for flood response.”
STRETCHED
Two major incidents were declared in neighbouring Nottinghamshire. The fire service mobilised additional resources, but on 20 October, the height of the flooding, at least 72 incidents were deferred calls and went unanswered within normal attendance times, either due to a lack of resources or because the fire service was already committed to other incidents.
“Management will tell you that we coped during the storms, but the reality was, that we were really stretched,” said Stephen Tucker, 33-year-old FBU Nottinghamshire brigade secretary.
“Some of my colleagues spent six or seven hours waist-deep in flood water, trying to evacuate houses. What should have been 12-hour shifts, sometimes ended up being 15 hours or more.”
Stephen, who has been a firefighter for 14 years, was in Nottingham at an FBU meeting when the storm struck on the Friday.
One colleague had to leave the meeting early because her child’s nursery had been flooded.
ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE
“We had a major storm in 2007 and it’s only going to get worse because of climate change. We’ll need more resources and more training.”
Stephen said it was “ridiculous” that there was no statutory duty to cope with storms in England, pointing out that England “has got as many flood plains as any other part of the UK”.
Given firefighters in Scotland have a responsibility to deal with the impact of storms, brigades on the east coast of the country were seriously overstretched during Storm Babet, according to Shaun McGowan, a 28-year-old FBU rep at Kingsway East fire station in Dundee.
The storm brought exceptional rainfall to parts of eastern Scotland with 150 to 200mm falling in the wettest areas.
A member of a five-person water rescue team, Shaun said that the worst-hit town was Brechin more than 26 miles north east of his base. At one stage at least three such teams, which cover around 100 miles of the east coast, were hard at work in the town, rescuing people from their homes and cars. One man ended up in a torrent of water in Marykirk, about 11 miles north east of Brechin. His body was discovered three or four days later.
At one stage Shaun and colleagues were wading through horse faeces to rescue people.
His team went back to Dundee, snatched four hours sleep between shifts and drove back to Brechin where, to make matters worse, a fire had broken out in the west end of the town.
The situation deteriorated to the point where water crews from Motherwell, more than 80 miles away, were sent to standby in one of the Dundee fire stations and were used to carry out rescues, said Shaun who has been a firefighter for five years. “It’s a major disaster waiting to happen.”
