Cuts

Claims by Berkshire’s fire authority that frontline fire and rescue services will not be affected by a multi-million pound budget cut has been met with ridicule by local firefighters. Royal Berkshire fire authority met last week to agree a financial settlement for the county’s fire service that will...

Firefighters have called on the mayor of London to suspend plans to scrap 13 fire engines after the London Fire Brigade (LFB) missed its target attendance time when responding to a fire in which a man died. The fire took hold in the early hours of Sunday at 86-year-old Raymond Lister’s property in...

A coalition of Conservative and Liberal Democrat Councillors have dealt the death blow to hopes that the Gloucestershire town of Painswick would keep its fire station and six retained fire officers in their jobs. Labour took the Gloucestershire County Council's (GCC) cabinet decision to use a...

The government are putting lives at risk by failing to recognise the true extent of budget cuts to the fire and rescue service, an influential House of Commons committee has said. The Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Labour MP Meg Hillier, slammed the Department of Communities and Local...

A short film centred around an intense phone call between a control room firefighter and a distressed mother who is trapped in a burning house with her sons is hoping to pick up a BAFTA award on Sunday. The film, which highlights the difficulties and challenges the emergency services face when...

The overwhelming majority of Londoners are against Boris Johnson’s plan to axe 13 fire engines from the capital, according to the results of a London Fire Brigade (LFB) public consultation on proposals to make cuts of £13.2m to the capital’s fire and rescue service, published 9 February 2016. The...

The Labour group on Gloucestershire County Council have used a procedural move to challenge the decision to cut frontline fire and rescue services. The procedure, known as a ‘call-in’, will challenge the consultation process that led to the decision to close Painswick fire station and cut full-time...

Northumberland County Council has been urged by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to reject dangerous cuts to fire and rescue services and instead follow the example of their Cumbrian counterparts. Yesterday (4 February) Cumbria County Council reversed its decision to close five fire stations citing the...

Five fire stations earmarked for closure in Cumbria have been saved after the local council cited the recent floods as a key reason to keep the stations operational. Cumbria County Council confirmed the decision at a meeting of its cabinet this morning (4 February). Les Skarratts, secretary of the...