Fire 999 calls in Lancashire increase while number of firefighters falls

The Fire Brigades Union said it was deeply concerned by the significant rise in fires across England following “massive cuts” to fire and rescue services.

There were 914 full-time equivalent firefighters employed by Lancashire as of March 2019.

This was a drop of three per cent compared to 2015, when there were 942.

At the same time, the number of incidents attended by the service increased by 3,903 compared to 2015 – a 29 per cent increase, bringing the total number of incidents to 17,387.

The figures reflect the trend across England, where the number of incidents has risen to a five-year high.

There were more than 576,000 incidents across the country in the 12 months to March, an increase of more than 16 per cent.

The number of firefighters meanwhile has fallen by 10 per cent since 2015, from 35,925 to 32,233.

The figures include all incidents attended by firefighters, including false alarms and non-fire related incidents such as road accidents.

Of the 17,387 calls attended by firefighters in Lancashire in 2018-19, 4,080 were non-fire incidents – 23 per cent of the total.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “We are deeply concerned that, after massive cuts to fire safety officers and years of fire safety deregulation, there has been a significant increase in fires in England.

“We have warned of the impact of climate change on fire for the last decade, but the Government has failed to listen. Long, dry summers are making fires more likely, while firefighters are responding to a huge number of floods and other non-fire incidents across the country.

“Westminster has been utterly complacent about fire safety for years and it is clearly taking its toll. We urgently need to invest in fire and rescue services and to radically boost firefighter recruitment – people’s lives, homes, businesses, and communities are at stake.”

Responding to a recent parliamentary question on firefighter numbers, Kit Malthouse, the minister for crime, policing and the fire service, said he was confident fire and rescue services have the resources they need.

He continued: “Operational decisions are for each fire and rescue authority to make as part of the integrated risk management planning process, and it is for individual fire and rescue services to make decisions on the number of firefighters they employ.”