Parts of the North East, which government statistics show has had some of the worst recent Covid hotspots as the Omicron wave continues, are continuing to report fire service shortages as Covid hits the service.
The Fire Brigades Union in the North East is clear that whilst these shortages are disappointing to see, services are doing the best they can with limited resources and that the underlying cause is relentless government cuts to resources.
Government fire and rescue funding has been cut by 13.8% in cash terms - or £140m – since 2016/17 alone. Funding shortfalls has meant that fire and rescue services have been forced to cut one in every five firefighter positions since 2010.
In one brigade there should be 18 fire engines available for use at any one time, but currently there are generally levels of only 12-15 due to Covid and other staffing issues.
Across the North East 11% of fire and rescue service staff are off on sick leave, according to the latest figures in the possession of the Fire Brigades Union.
It has also recently been reported that firefighter crew levels in two further areas of the North East were being “impacted” by Covid, according to an interview given on by Fire Brigades Union regional secretary for the North East Brian Harris.
Commenting further today, Brian said:
“Covid is hitting the fire and rescue service hard, with fire engines left out of use in their stations – but this is entirely avoidable. A fire and rescue service with sufficient levels of staffing and decent levels of resilience would be able to continue past these challenges. But across the country we’ve had one in every five firefighters cut since 2010 as financial constraints have hit, so we aren’t in that position. It’s entirely unclear how the government thinks it is acceptable to have a fire and rescue service with such a low level of resilience. Fire and rescue services are doing the best they can with limited resources, and it’s time the government steps up to the mark.”
Information on financial cuts statistics used here – https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2021/03/02/englands-fire-services-cut-ps140m-2016-new-figures-show.
Information on job cuts statistics used here - https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2021/10/05/new-job-cut-figures-firefighters-might-not-be-able-fight-all-fires. Please note that in these statistics ‘firefighters’ is defined as including wholetime, retained and control staff.
