Latest editorial
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.
Since 2010, one in five firefighter jobs has disappeared alongside 30% funding cuts — all while climate breakdown brings record blazes and flooding. It’s time to fund our fire service properly, writes FBU general secretary STEVE WRIGHT
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
