Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union General Secretary, gave evidence at the Communities and Local Government Select Committee meeting on the ‘Knight Review of the Fire and Rescue Service’ this afternoon. He said:
“Reform of the fire and rescue service must put public safety first, but the Knight Review will only be used as a fig leaf for cuts that will cost lives.
“Firefighters are the real experts on how the service should be run, and we know that it needs investment and sensible debate, not cuts and poorly-conceived restructuring, as our warnings over the FireControl project demonstrate.
“Improving response times are vital to saving lives, but these reforms will instead slow things down.
“Everyone should have the same right to protection from fire, flooding and the countless other tasks undertaken by the modern firefighter. We need national structures, systems and standards to make sure that a postcode lottery doesn’t dictate people’s safety.”
