Two years on from the UK’s hottest ever day, the Fire Brigades Union has issued call on the new Labour government to “urgently invest in the fire service to protect public safety”. The call comes as a yellow heat alert is issued for parts of England.
Since 2010, the fire and rescue service has lost 1 in 5 firefighter jobs and more than 30% of its central government funding. As climate change accelerates, firefighters are warning that a failure to put resources back into the fire service could cost lives.
On 19 July 2022, temperatures hit 40.3 degrees in Coningsby, Lincolnshire. Fifteen fire and rescue services declared major incidents due to wildfire, including Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Hertfordshire, Humberside, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and Suffolk.
The London Fire Brigades had its busiest day since the Second World War. In the capital alone there were:
- 2,496 calls to control, 740 of which related to grass alight
- 1,198 mobilisations
- 500 residents evacuated
The LFB ran out of fire engines, with 39 appliances sitting idle because of a lack of firefighters to crew them.
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said:
“Firefighters know first-hand that the climate emergency is real and getting worse. Wildfires, flooding and heat are a growing threat to lives, homes and communities.
“But in recent years, austerity has robbed fire and rescue service of the resources it needs to respond effectively. One in five firefighter jobs has been lost, hundreds of fire engines have been axed and dozens of fire stations closed.
“It is welcome that Labour has committed to introducing national standards to address fragmentation. But the new government must urgently invest in the fire service to protect public safety”.
