Responding to the publication of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report into the 2013-14 winter floods, Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “Firefighters are on the front line when floods take place, yet the government is slashing fire and rescue budgets to ribbons.
“Our ability to protect public safety during floods, fires, road traffic accidents and major incidents such as terrorist attacks is already being tested to breaking point, and further cuts will endanger lives.
“It’s right to call for an end to cuts to frontline jobs at the Environment Agency, but cuts to fire and rescue services also played a significant role in our ability to handle such large-scale floods, and must be halted immediately.
“The fire and rescue service needs a permanent funding stream to deal with floods – not just money back from government after very major incidents.”
At present, there is no formal expectation for fire and rescue services to attending floods in England and Wales. The FBU argues that a statutory duty for firefighters to attend floods would help fire and rescue services, other emergency services and the government as a whole to plan effectively and reduce risk to life and property. Such a duty has already been adopted in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The FBU estimates that as a result of government cuts, 6,000 firefighter posts have been lost in the UK since 2007, seriously undermining the fire and rescue service’s ability to deal with floods, fires and other incidents.
