The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned MPs that further cuts to emergency services budgets will put lives at risk, standard.co.uk reports.
Following on from Sir Ken Knight’s review of England’s fire and rescue services, the FBU has claimed that lives could be endangered and business assets put under unnecessary risk if further slashes are made to budgets that are already “cut to pieces”.
The claims were made by FBU general secretary Matt Wrack in front of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee. He railed against claims made by Sir Ken, who said that fire brigades spend money depending on their allocation, not the risks faced.
Sir Ken’s report went on to claim that some £200 million could be saved by reining in those authorities spending above average, but Wrack claimed this would put lives in real danger – and potentially place ever more importance on undertaking fire risk assessments, by extension.
Wrack went on to say that the report only concerned itself with finances, instead of the more humanitarian aspect of “what do we want from our fire and rescue service?” news.uk.msn.com claims.
He added: “I want to be absolutely clear, there are massive cuts being made in our fire and rescue service and… those cuts will put public safety at risk. Those cuts will put firefighter safety at risk, they will put lives at risk and they will mean that homes… and businesses that could have been saved will be lost.”
In summary, Wrack warned MPs that the public could not get the fire and safety service it had come to expect if cuts continue.