Firefighters and emergency 999 control staff in Essex have been taking industrial action over plans to cut 179 firefighting jobs.
Equivalent to a quarter of all frontline staff the cuts are the largest ever proposed in any one year in the UK fire and rescue service.
Essex Country Fire and Rescue have also introduced a new shift system which has forced many of the control staff, with child caring responsibilities, to either job share or leave the service all together.
The Fire Brigades Union believes these cuts will put the public of Essex at risk.
In this video Riccardo la Torre and Emma Polley, chair and control representative for the FBU in Essex respectively, give a first hand account of the situation in Essex.
