The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is calling on Keir Starmer to cancel Donald Trump’s state visit after it emerged that firefighters would be deployed to Chequers during his visit.
The deployment means that the fire service will look to crew an additional two fire engines and a water tanker, during a period in which it has been stretched to breaking point by cuts and wildfires.
Buckinghamshire fire and rescue service has emailed all staff offering overtime in order to crew the vehicles for Thursday 18th September. The fire service is expected to deploy at Chequers to provide fire cover for President Trump’s visit.
The move comes at a time when the fire and rescue service is facing substantial cuts, across the country and in the local area.
Buckinghamshire is looking at cuts to retained fire appliances, as well as station closures. The fire trucks sent to chequers will have the recommended five firefighters on board, while residents of the county only get crews of four due to a lack of resources – a practice which puts firefighters and the public at risk.
Cuts mean that the fire service is struggling to meet the demands of a warming climate and the growing risk of wildfires. One in five firefighter jobs have been lost since 2010, and response times are three minutes slower than in the 1990s.
The FBU represents the overwhelming majority of firefighters in the UK.
From TUC Congress, Steve Wright, Fire Brigades Union general secretary said:
These revelations are the icing on the cake. Donald trump is toxic, authoritarian billionaire who has waged a war on workers and the living standards of ordinary Americans, and enacted a brutal, racist anti-migrant policy at odds with basic humanitarian values.
Rolling out the red carpet for him with an unprecedented second state visit was always a shocking move for a Labour government. Now we learn that fire cover may be compromised to accommodate it. This could hamper response times and public safety.
Keir Starmer must cancel this state visit.”
Chris Wycherley, FBU executive council member for the Southern region, said:
15 years of cuts mean the fire service is on its knees, and Buckinghamshire has spent all summer suffering a lack of resources. We have had wildfires, hot temperatures and low rainfall. Those conditions could well still be in place throughout September.
We have now found that the service has been asked to deploy fire engines and a water tanker to sit outside Chequers for President Trump’s visit. Firefighters and members of the public will rightly regard that as a cruel joke. Why should safety be compromised day to day while public money is spent to facilitate a state visit, with cuts on the horizon?
The fire service exists to save lives, not to put on a show for far-right foreign leaders.”
