North Yorkshire Fire Brigades Union launch website in fresh attack on cuts

The FBU will be launching a website on Friday, August 28, containing information about how the proposed cuts will affect both fire-fighter and public safety.

Alongside the website, www.no2firecuts.com, the FBU has also produced a leaflet highlighting the safety risks of introducing a tactical response vehicle to replace a front line fire engine.

The protests from the FBU come on the back of plans to cut more than 40 whole time fire-fighters, equating to 20 per cent of operational staff, as part of the Fire Cover Review.

FBU Brigade Chair, Simon Wall, warned that the cuts will delay response times to incidents as well as limiting the area in which ‘important prevention work’ can be carried out.

He said: “The Fire Service is an important public service paid for by the public and we firmly believe the public should have their say based on the facts.

“Road Traffic Collisions and property fires have not reduced as being quoted and this is evidenced by the increase in fire deaths already this year.

“The website will include a blog with information about how the individual stations are affected and a link to our E petition which will go to the Fire Authority Members and your local MP.

“The public should also contact their local councillors and MP’s and voice their concerns.”

The authority have claimed the changes are necessary due to the number of incidents they attend reducing significantly since the last full cover review in the 1990s.

However, Mr Wall argued that despite this, the severity of an incident in 2004 is no different to one in 2015.