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FBU members stand with Miguel Roldan (centre), a Spanish firefighter facing 20 years in prison for rescuing refugees off the coast of Italy
“WE stand with you” was British firefighters’ defiant message to a Spanish firefighter facing prison time for saving drowning refugees.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) meeting at the union’s conference gave four standing ovations today to Miguel Roldan, a firefighter based in Seville in southern Spain.
Mr Roldan, who has been in Seville’s underwater fire service unit since 2013, used 20 days of his summer holiday in 2017 aboard fishing vessel Iuventa, that had been converted into a rescue ship by Berlin-based refugee rescue organisation Jugend Rettet.
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
The FBU is demanding 52 weeks of full pay for women firefighters, highlighting the unique health risks they face — and the continuing need to recruit and retain more women if policies like this are still not in place, writes SEONA HART