Hundreds have taken to the streets of Leeds in advance of tomorrow's lobby of MPs and peers by the Fire Brigades Union. Ann Czernik hears about their concerns
Share 105
inShare0
Email 
Firefighters deal with floods as well as fires - here's a team in action when disaster struck Toll Bar in South Yorkshire four years ago. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA
On Saturday, West Yorkshire fire fighters gathered in Leeds city centre to listen to Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union who has been touring the country to highlight the challenges of significant funding cuts.
Back in July, Martyn Redfearn, West Yorkshire's assistant chief fire officer, was asked by the Commons' communities and local government committee if he thought that lives would be lost if proposed funding cuts were implemented. He said:
Being a blunt Yorkshireman, the answer's yes.
And he added:
Prevention work will stop and people who are most at risk will not be getting the service that they should do. The fact is, prevention and protection is what actually stops people dying.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, addresses the rally in Leeds Last year, West Yorkshire Fire Service attended 30,103 incidents – a reduction on 2010/11. Arson fell by 16.4%, primary fires, the most serious type of fire, by 10.15% and fatalities by half. The service credits prevention and protection work for these successes bu there is still a long way to go. Still 44% of fire call outs are to premises without a functional fire alarm.
West Yorkshire FBU brigade secretary David Williams says:
Firefighters are angry because these cuts will slow response times. Small fires will become big ones. In emergency situations every second counts, a few seconds delay can be the difference between saving a life or failing to save it.
Bob Neill who was then the minister responsible for the fire service, told the local government committee that 'he had no reason to believe' that the fire service would deteriorate due to cuts to funding. He said funding presented:
challenges and professional firefighters rise to the challenges - I have confidence in the professionals.
West Yorkshire firefighters listening to Wrack's speech. When the committee put professional concerns about possible loss of life to him, Neill dismissed the fears, saying 'I don't believe that is justified by any evidence,' despite an earlier report by the same committee which warned of significant loss of life if response times increased.
In September's reshuffle, Neill was replaced by Brandon Lewis who urged fire services:
to go out and pro-actively engage with representative bodies for industry and commerce and make the case for effective and proportionate fire protection.
The Fire Brigades Union believes that this is a significant turning point in the history of the UK fire and rescue service and says in a national statement:
People will die unnecessarily and suffer injuries which could have been avoided. Homes and businesses will be destroyed. We are raising the alarm – protect the fire and rescue service.
Steve Howley, chair of the union in North Yorkshire, backs that up:
The Fire Service is facing wholesale destruction putting our communities and firefighters at greater risk..The dismantling of our service is coming to North Yorkshire very soon and we need to stand united.
In West Yorkshire, the latest budget proposals would mean that in twelve months, 21 fire stations would close, replaced with ten new ones, there would be 19 fewer fire appliances overall and up to 350 fewer frontline firefighters would be available.
Currently the county's fire and rescue service costs us £38 per person per year and demands on it are spreading. Firefighters expect more grassland and wildfires, floods and storms, and droughts affecting water availability. They rescued thousands of people in flood incidents last year and were ready for deployment during the August riots.
Firefighters carry a symbolic coffin through Leeds before the rally Their feeling in West Yorkshire is that MPs praise the service's selfless bravery on such occasions but are slower to act on its members' advice. On Saturday, firefighters solemnly carried a coffin around Leeds city centre to emphasis that fire kills. People may forget that the fire service advises and assists on a wide range of public safety issues and there can be disastrous consequences if their views are disregarded
The first chapter of the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel is entitled Unheeded warnings; the seeds of disaster and it warns that 'when disasters occur it is rare that causation can be attributed to one single overarching act or omission.' In the meetings and discussion that had previously taken place around safety at Sheffield Wednesday's ground, only the fire service raised concerns about provision for emergency evacuation of the terraces.
The next generation matters too. A young supporter at the rally As for fire, a blaze will on average double in size every 60 seconds. Three years ago, the Commons' communities and local government committee published figures which showed how response times had slowed since 1996 and were 22% slower than ten years earlier. The report predicted the effects of continuing slower response times as 13 additional fatalities in building fires annually, possibly 65 additional deaths in road traffic accidents and an £85 million increase in other fire damage. Five years ago, firefighters were able to reach one in three incidents in five minutes or less. In 2011–12, that has dropped to one in six. More incidents than before take 10 minutes or longer before an appliance arrives.
It is these figures which underlie the message that the Fire Brigades Union is taking to Westminster tomorrow:
There is no room for cuts to our service. Cuts on the scale proposed by the government are simply not possible while maintaining any semblance of a modern and professional fire and rescue service.
