Responding to the Local Government Association’s report on cuts to fire and rescue services, Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “The LGA are right to say that fire and rescue services must be given the funding to play a key, continued role in national resilience.
“But it’s clear that across the country cuts are already slowing emergency response times, impacting on critical services and endangering lives.
“All of us working in fire and rescue and local government must stand together to save fire and rescue services and convince central government to provide adequate funding for brigades.
“Merely creating a greater burden on local people by increasing council tax, reducing effectiveness by cutting cover at night or instigating further attacks on firefighters by reducing salaries after three long years of removing their pensions will not work.”
In their report the LGA state that although services are approaching a critical level, “fire and rescue authorities accept that this is part of the deficit reduction programme and all public services must play their part in this”.
