Coronavirus: Additional shifts, variations to working patterns and additional work activities
Firefighters to protect vulnerable by avoiding hospitals and care homes, as “critical risk-based service” agreed
Fire and rescue services will cease most home fire-safety checks and avoid hospitals, care homes and residences with vulnerable people, to limit coronavirus cross-infection between firefighters and the public, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and fire and rescue bosses have agreed. Firefighters and...
COVID-19: Fire Brigades Union postpones Annual Conference and educational courses
In light of the escalating public health crisis caused by Covid-19 (coronavirus), the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has confirmed the postponing of its Annual Conference and educational courses. The decision comes after the Executive Council met to discuss the latest public health advice from the...
COVID-19: Fire and rescue services lose hundreds of firefighters to self-isolation, as union calls for priority testing
Fire and rescue service personnel must receive priority testing and vaccination for coronavirus, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said after some brigades reported losing hundreds of staff to self-isolation. In a letter to ministers in Westminster and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales...
The tragedy of the hidden homeless – living in death-trap hostels in Thatcher’s Britain
In 1980, a fire at a London hostel laid bare the brutality of Margaret Thatcher's Britain and the government's failed housing and fire safety policies. Dr Shane Ewen looks back at the fire and remembers the victims. In the early hours of 18 March 1980, residents in Kilburn, North London were woken...
COVID-19: Firefighters should cease non-essential interactions with the public, union says
Interactions between firefighters and the public should temporarily be drastically scaled back to limit coronavirus contaminations, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said. Non-emergency work such as fire safety visits and inspections, school visits, and public meetings, should be temporarily...
