Cuts

"A wake up call for the fire authority": FBU responds to damning report into Shropshire fire service

29 Nov, 2024 By Alice Dann

The Fire Brigades Union has responded to the latest inspection report into Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service. Released today, the report by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) finds Shropshire fire service “requiring improvement” in six key areas, and...

Fire station with fire appliance outside at night

MP joins calls for rethink on cuts that ‘simply don’t add up’

Dorset and Wiltshire FBU has launched local campaigns across the region, calling on councillors and the fire authority to reverse plans to slash fire cover. Fire and rescue service bosses announced the plans only a month before removing fire engines from stations in September. Firefighters were...

Static response times highlight need for national standards

Fire and rescue response times in England for the year ending March 2024 reinforce the need for national standards, the FBU has warned. The average total response time to primary fires in England was nine minutes and three seconds, only 10 seconds better than last year’s figure, which was the...

Bonfire night: Firefighters call for more resources ahead of busiest night of the year

05 Nov, 2024 By Alice Dann

Firefighters are facing the busiest night of the year without the resources needed to keep the public safe, the Fire Brigades Union has warned. Bonfire night typically sees fire and rescue services respond to a huge number of calls, tackling dangerous fires and firework related incidents. While...

Poole firefighters condemn fire engine removal after “week of chaos”

01 Nov, 2024 By Alice Dann

The Fire Brigades Union has revealed that on-call firefighters at Poole were called out to 15 incidents in the week following the removal of one of Poole’s 24 hour crewed fire engines: five times the number of incidents predicted by the service. On Monday 21st October, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and...

Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report – a digest of key findings

14 Oct, 2024

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Dear Brother/Sister, Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report – a digest of key findings The Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017 killed 72 people, left hundreds homeless and devastated a whole community...

Revealed: Firefighters arrive at work to find fire engines missing in Dorset and Wiltshire stations

03 Oct, 2024 By Alice Dann

The Fire Brigades Union has revealed that firefighters turning up for shifts at Dorset and Wiltshire fire stations were alarmed to find fire engines missing this September. Fire appliances disappeared from Sturminster Newton, Wareham, Corsham, and Marlborough fire stations on September 19th and...

Firefighters with FBU appliance at rally

Time to deliver: Join us on 8 October

On Tuesday 8 October, firefighters from every corner of the UK will descend on Westminster to demand that the new government delivers a fire and rescue service that is fit for the future. FBU general secretary Matt Wrack explains why. The result of the general election was a crushing blow for the...

FBU members gathered outside Merseyside fire authority meeting

Crew of three plans deferred after FBU protest outside fire authority meeting

Firefighters staged a rally (above) outside a meeting of the Merseyside fire authority to oppose a dangerous reduction to crew sizes, resulting in a vote on the policy being delayed. The fire authority’s community risk management plan (CRMP) includes proposals to send firefighters to “non-life” risk...

Union research reveals the impact of 14 years of cuts

After 14 years of austerity there are too few firefighters to guarantee resilience and public safety, according to new figures obtained by the FBU. Freedom of information requests reveal that, since 2010, more than 8,000 wholetime firefighter jobs have been cut, while one in five retained...

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