As Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to deliver her budget, environemtal and tax justice groups have joined the Fire Brigades Union in calling for major investment in the fire and rescue service.
View the full text of the letter here.
In a letter to the Chancellor and Environment Secretary Ed Miliband, organisations including Greenpeace, Tax Justice UK, Friends of the Earth, Tipping Point UK and Global Justice Now warned the government that "the UK is dangerously under-prepared for the growing threat of wildfires, flooding, and the wider impacts of the climate crisis."
It continues: "That is why we are writing to you, as organisations working across public safety, climate action, and economic and social justice ahead the Budget to ask you to make substantial, long-term investment in the UK’s fire and rescue service."
The fire and rescue service has lost one in five firefighter jobs since 2010. Meanwhile, this year was the worst year on record for wildfires, surpassing the record-breaking summer of 2022. Days withe "very high" risk of wildfire are set to triple by 2050.
The letter cites the Holt Heath wildfire this summer, in which 17 fire services had to be called in - from as far away as Merseyside - and many firefighters lacked specialist wildfire PPE.
It calls for:
- Significant new central government funding for the fire and rescue service, to ensure sufficient firefighters, emergency fire control staff and specialist resources to meet wildfire and flooding risks.
- A statutory duty for fire services in England to respond to flooding, consistent with the arrangements that already exist in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.
- A UK-wide wildfire resilience strategy, developed with the Fire Brigades Union and other stakeholders, ensuring consistent standards for planning, training, and response.
