Professional standards

Spring and summer this year were both record-breaking. Droughts and high temperatures created the perfect conditions for wildfires. Meanwhile, austerity has undermined the ability of the fire service to respond and a lack of national standards means that it’s pot luck how good your local fire cover...

There is no UK-wide standard when it comes to firefighters’ working hours, meaning that each fire and rescue service can set shift patterns depending on local arrangements. This year, chief fire officers in both Gloucestershire and Mid and West Wales have targeted firefighters’ working hours. In...

When fire and rescue services send firefighters out in crews of just three on a fire engine, lives are on the line. Firefighter reports.  A hotel is burning. People are still inside and need help to get out. Many of them don’t speak English as their first language and are panicking.  Your crew is...

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is forging ahead with changing wholetime firefighters shifts from 8am to 7pm instead of 9am to 6pm, despite the county council fire scrutiny panel recommending that these plans are scrapped. The council’s fire scrutiny committee published a report into the...

The cover story of this edition of Firefighter will be familiar to many FBU members. In many areas, it is no longer guaranteed that there will be enough firefighters on a fire engine to safely tackle an incident. As we report in this issue, firefighters attending incidents as part of a crew of four...