THE wildfire summer that firefighters and fire control staff endured is still fresh in my mind during this week’s TUC Congress.

We had members hospitalised, fatigued, and pushed to their absolute limit by a combination of long hours dealing with complex fires, a lack of correct PPE and a shortage of firefighters on the ground confronting this national threat.

Yet despite all these immense pressures, the collective professionalism and steadfastness of our members has never been more apparent, attested to by the huge volume of tributes and thanks given by the public throughout the summer.

Since 2010, the then Conservative-led government cut 12,000 firefighters creating a lack of resilience in our ability to adequately confront major incidents.

These decisions were taken even though wildfires were added to the national risk register in 2013 and the FBU as the professional voice of firefighters repeatedly warned that such deep cuts would have a lasting and potential deadly impact.

Despite this reality, some fire and rescue services have tried and failed to cut firefighter jobs.

The FBU has fought and won in Kent, Dorset and at my local brigade in Oxfordshire. We are taking the fight to similar attempts in Gloucestershire and Cleveland.

With the scale of the wildfires, (over 1,100 this year alone) the devastation wreaked on communities throughout the UK and the El Nino phenomenon are likely to make next year even worse, there has never been more of a need for change in the fire and rescue service.

That’s why we are backing Composite 14 at the TUC which puts the entire trade union movement behind a call for a wildfire summit, an increase in the number of firefighters and provision of the required equipment to tackle these increasing wildfire risks.

Our new Prime Minister Andy Burnham is listening to firefighters and has agreed to chair the summit once a date from the government has been set. This will bring together not just FBU but a whole host of stakeholders including employers in the sector.

The union’s other priorities at TUC Congress this year are getting the entire trade union movement behind our DECON campaign and acknowledging the 10th anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy.

We have highlighted the risks firefighters across the UK face at work because of the contaminants released by fire and other hazards.

Due to the FBU’s robust campaigning, we received a concordat commitment from the government on working together to improve firefighters’ health and wellbeing with other key organisations.

We, of course, cannot forget that 2027 marks 10 years since Grenfell.

It is quite incredible that there have been no prosecutions, that thousands of people still live with flammable cladding on their homes, and that private companies continue to have the gall to drive towards further deregulation even when it’s obvious those practices led to this atrocity.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations include the establishment of a College of Fire. We want to see that college established, publicly owned and properly resourced, with a central role in developing UK-wide standards for the fire and rescue service. We are progressing this work with government, but the college does not yet exist and there is still work to do to make it a reality.

Time has not eased our union’s desire to see those responsible brought to justice or the strength of our solidarity with the Grenfell families.

It is incumbent on the government to ensure that justice is no longer denied to the Grenfell families.

These campaigns that the FBU fights for are primarily about improving the lives of our members and the communities they serve.

But it is my belief that our union plays a wider part in the working-class movement, to help bring about a different kind of society; a socialist one that will end poverty, warmongering and see all working people benefit from the wealth they produce each and every day in our country.

Steve Wright is general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union