Responding to comments from the Prime Minister and Mayor of London over firefighters’ work after the collapse of the roof at the Apollo Theatre, Fire Brigades Union General Secretary, Matt Wrack, said:
“Firefighters at the Apollo Theatre were fantastic in their response to an incident that could have seen significant loss of life, but we’re sick of being praised by politicians one minutes and stabbed in the back the next.
“Our world-class fire and rescue service is being devastated by the worst cuts in our history, cuts that prevent firefighters from doing their jobs during day-to-day emergencies, major incidents like the Apollo Theatre or Clutha Bar collapses and recent floods and storms.
“In addition, firefighters are livid that Cameron’s government is ignoring the evidence and destroying their pensions with an extremely expensive scheme that does not take into account the work firefighters actually do.”
Three of the eight fire stations which attended the incident at the Apollo Theatre face closure in the next few weeks.
As well as the closure of fire stations and the removal of fire engines, there have been 3,600 firefighter jobs lost since 2010.
