Public cannot expect fire services to 'respond adequately' to wildfires, says Fire Brigades Union Officer

14 August 2022, 13:24

Public can no longer expect the fire service to 'respond adequately'

The Fire Brigades Union's National Officer Riccardo la Torre has said the public cannot "any longer have the expectation that the fire service can respond adequately" to wildfires due to a lack of staff.

It comes after a bomb disposal unit was called on Saturday afternoon to deal with an unexploded bomb that was uncovered after a huge fire tore through a popular nature reserve in Dorset.

It was not the only blaze to have broken out, with fires sparking across the nation amid tinder-dry conditions and unprecedented heat.

Five fire engines and about 35 firefighters tackled a two-hectare grass fire on Whipps Cross Road in Leytonstone, Waltham Forest.

Ben Kentish asked Mr la Torre: "So how would you summarise the fire service's ability to deal with the sorts of fires, the sorts of situations that we are seeing arising as a result of this weather and climate change?"

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"Well, I don't think we can any longer have the expectation that the fire service can respond adequately to these incidents," said Mr la Torre.

"We've had reports from the ground over this past month or so of firefighters putting in what we call a 'makeup call', which is in effect a backup call: we need more firefighters here, we need more fire engines here now to be able to surround this, to be able to cut it off, to be able to get the water on.

"And we're simply being told 'no, you can't have them, we don't have the available resources'.

"And I think what makes that most scandalous is at the same time firefighters are being refused this critical backup, we've got fire engines sat empty in fire stations all over the country because we simply don't have the firefighters to crew them".