As firefighters and other emergency service workers helped rescue those trapped by yesterday’s storms, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) insisted there was a need for an immediate end to cuts in the fire and rescue service. The firefighters union also called on the government to issue an order to clarify the role of fire services in attending major floods.
FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said, “Firefighters have done a magnificent job over the past 24 hours as they responded to flood and storm incidents across many parts of the country, rescuing and evacuating large numbers of people, saving lives and preventing further risk.
“In many cases they travelled long distances across the country to provide support where it was most needed. This is not just a local response but the government has so far ignored our call for proper national planning for such risks.
“It is a travesty that many of the crews, fire stations and special appliances involved in last night’s rescues are under threat from government expenditure cuts.”
Matt Wrack says it is important to learn lessons from the storms, where firefighters were highly active in the Great Yarmouth constituency of Fire Minister Brandon Lewis.
“It is irresponsible and ludicrous that major flooding like we saw yesterday is not a clear statutory responsibility of the service,” he says. “That should be made clear immediately. It is easily done, and only requires an order under existing legislation – the Fire and Rescue Services Act. That step has already been taken in Scotland and Northern Ireland but Westminster refuses to follow.
“It also showed the desperate need to coordinate these services on a national level. An obsession with ‘localism’ weakens our ability to plan for events which are clearly not just local. For incidents like this we need coordinated national planning and assessment of resources, including joint procedures and common equipment and standards. We need to ensure a national response to problems of this scale.”
And without doubt, Wrack says, there must be an end to cutting funding for emergency services. “Last night demonstrated the need to maintain and improve our ability to make sure the public is as safe as we can make them in the event of emergencies. Cuts in the fire and rescue service amount to national vandalism, not financial prudence.
“It is almost incredible that many of the appliances and crews which responded yesterday are themselves being considered for the axe. We have already seen the loss of 3,600 firefighter jobs since the 2010 general election. If the planned cuts continue the firefighters will be less and less able to safely and professionally respond to challenges like the storms and floods.”
Firefighters were active throughout many parts of the country yesterday, assisting with evacuating those in danger, checking buildings, pumping water and helping to ensure basic amenities for those affected by the flooding. They helped to evacuate 9,000 homes in Norfolk, largely in the Great Yarmouth area where at least 30 houses were flooded. Some 400 homes were affected in the Humber region.
