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A large wildfire in woodland at Lickey Hills Country Park on the edge of Birmingham. About sixty firefighters are tackling the blaze which broke out at the beauty spot earlier today, July 18, 2022
FIRE services need “urgent action” from the next government if they are to cope with a repeat of the 2022 heatwave and wildfires which saw firefighters pushed to breaking point, their union has warned.
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said Britain’s fire and rescue services are “fragmented, overstretched and chronically underfunded” at a time when climate change is causing record-breaking temperatures and an increased risk of heatwaves.
He said firefighters were “pushed to breaking point” on July 19, 2022, when record temperatures and wildfires saw London Fire Brigade take 3,000 calls.
“However, that day 39 fire engines were out of action without enough firefighters to crew them,” he said.
“A decade of brutal cuts has left the UK unprepared.
“An incoming Labour government will need to wake up to the harsh reality of the climate emergency.”
Mr Wrack warned that failing to invest in the fire service “means failing to protect homes and lives from climate disasters.”
When it comes to extreme weather events, from wildfires to flash floods, it’s firefighters who are on the front line of defence, but services have been cut to the bone, and government is not taking seriously its responsibility for the environment, says STEVE WRIGHT
