There are too few firefighters to guarantee resilience after the COVID pandemic and more than a decade of austerity according to new figures obtained by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).
One-in-five firefighter jobs (20%) across the UK have been cut since 2010. This has had a huge impact on the resilience of the fire and rescue service. Fewer firefighters mean slower response times, fewer home visits, fewer inspections – all hitting our communities.
On top of this, firefighters were integral in aiding our response to the pandemic in the past year; through a collective agreement firefighters took on additional duties extra to their statutory responsibilities, by driving ambulances, delivering PPE and moving the deceased. Despite this extra effort by firefighters, 200 firefighter posts have been cut in the last year alone.
