News

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has set out plans to start inspecting fire and rescue services to regulate measures taken to protect firefighters from carcinogens. These inspections would cover a range of procedures and practices, from precautions at the scene of a fire, to how PPE and...

The Fire Brigades Union has advised members not to be involved in law enforcement activities, following protests at a drone factory in Leicestershire this May. Activists identified the site as linked to Elbit Systems, an arms company supplying the Israeli military with weapons, and occupied the...

The FBU is seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in relation to the costs control mechanism imposed on public sector pension schemes by the treasury. The FBU was successful in challenging the government’s public sector pension reforms introduced in 2015 as age discriminatory, leading to...

Firefighters in Wales have been let down by failings of senior leadership, Sound the Alarm, a report by the Senedd’s equality and social justice committee has concluded. It outlines serious concerns about fire and rescue service governance. The Welsh government appointed four commissioners to lead a...

Freedom of information requests by the BBC have revealed the devastating impact of understaffing on Essex fire and rescue service. Crews are frequently moved around the region in an attempt to plug dangerous gaps in fire cover. The service was found to have moved firefighters from their usual bases...

Firefighters and control room staff have voted to accept a pay offer from fire service employers; 73% accepted on a turnout of 60%. The national ballot closed on 17 May. The offer is for: 4% pay rise across the board UK-wide minimum of 26 weeks full-pay maternity leave significant increase in the...

The Home Office published high rise evacuation guidelines for fire and rescue services in February, four years after the Grenfell Tower inquiry recommended that the Westminster government produce guidance. This was the only recommendation aimed at central government from the inquiry’s phase 1 report...

Firefighters in Scotland have raised safety concerns over cuts to specialist appliances for fighting high-rise fires following a blaze in a block of flats in March. Some 70 firefighters and 12 appliances from across Scotland, including specialist height appliances, were called to the incident in...

All fire services in Wales are under review following reports of widespread discrimination and harassment, and serious failings by fire service leaders. An independent culture review of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service published this January found evidence that misconduct, sexual harassment and...

Councillors have pushed back on plans for cuts in Avon Fire and Rescue Service following a successful campaign by firefighters. Avon fire authority voted to delay cutting crews on fire engines from five to four firefighters at a meeting in March. The decision came after fire service managers were...