News

14 June 2025 marked eight years since the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people. Firefighters took part in the annual silent walk alongside the bereaved, survivors and the community in memory of the people who lost their lives and to demand that the tragedy is never repeated. After seven years...

Firefighters in Mid and West Wales are fighting to scrap plans to change shift patterns, with the fire service threatening to enforce “exhausting” new 12-hour shifts. Over 200 firefighters and supporters gathered at a rally outside Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service headquarters in March...

The Fire Brigades Union has urged the government to change course after chancellor Rachel Reeves committed to cutting billions of pounds from the welfare budget in her Spring Statement on 26 March. The welfare cuts, which will amount to around £5 billion, are largely targeted at disability benefit...

The FBU is asking members to contribute their own personal stories of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid public inquiry is reaching a critical stage, and is gathering evidence of how the pandemic affected key workers. The FBU has provided evidence to the inquiry in its own right and through the TUC...

The Fire Brigades Union has called on the government to intervene after it emerged that slow processing of pensions claims is leaving thousands of retired firefighters out of pocket by as much as hundreds of pounds a month. In a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Steve Wright, Fire...

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is forging ahead with changing wholetime firefighters shifts from 8am to 7pm instead of 9am to 6pm, despite the county council fire scrutiny panel recommending that these plans are scrapped. The council’s fire scrutiny committee published a report into the...

Government responsibility for the fire and rescue service moved from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government on 1 April 2025. The FBU welcomed this as an important first step to repairing the damage done to the fire and rescue service by recent governments. In a...

FBU general secretary Steve Wright has used his first weeks in office to urge the government to deliver on a package of promises on workers’ rights as quickly as possible. The Workers’ Rights Bill, which was published in October last year, would improve workers’ rights across the economy. Crucially...

The fire appliance donated to Palestine by the FBU continues to be held by Israeli authorities at the port of Ashdod. Members in Scotland sourced and refitted a fire engine, loading it with medical supplies, to be shipped to Nablus in the West Bank. Stephen Gethins MP and Brian Leishman MP have both...

Steve Wright, FBU general secretary, has written to the department of health and the home office calling for urgent health checks for firefighters following the latest research into the impact of exposure to fire contaminants. In January, the University of Central Lancashire found that 136 of the...