Cambridgeshire firefighters organised a rally outside a meeting of the Cambridgeshire fire authority on 4 October protesting against a dangerous reduction to crews.
Since 1 January this year, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) has cut the number of on-call firefighters attending incidents to three per crew.
CFRS argues that smaller crews will mean that fire engines arrive at incidents “several minutes faster”.
There is no evidence that this reduces response times, since a crew of three must wait for additional crews to arrive to tackle a serious incident.
FBU brigade secretary Mark Harriss said: “The service is cutting our crews because we’re facing a crisis in recruitment and retention. Making the job far more dangerous and stressful will only make this worse. Fire service employers must put a stop to this dangerous practice and staff our service properly.”
The FBU opposes reduced crewing levels across the UK, with retained firefighters leading the fight against inadequate and dangerous crewing levels.
