Cambridgeshire fire service: 100 fewer firefighters after over 16 per cent decline in numbers in last 20 years

The number of firefighters in Cambridgeshire has dropped by over 16 per cent in the last 20 years – with official figures revealing that there are 100 fewer whole time and on-call firefighters working in the region than in 2002.

The Home Office statistics come after increasing concerns that emergency services are not prepared for the effects of climate change following several fire services declaring major incidents as fires spread across the UK during the heatwave last week.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to a record number of incidents as temperatures soared to almost 40 degrees in Peterborough.

Fire crews attended 92 incidents on what was the UK’s hottest day ever recorded last Tuesday (July 19) – receiving over 800 calls across the two-day heatwave.

There were 618 whole time and on-call firefighters in Cambridgeshire in 2002, which dropped to 518 in 2021 – a 16.2 per cent decline in 20 years.

Across England’s fire and rescue services, the number of firefighters has fallen by 21% in 20 years - a loss of more than 9,000 posts. The overall headcount plummeted from 44,594 in 2002 to 35,279 in 2021.

‘Facing challenges’

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said that despite ‘facing challenges’ in recent years, the service has ‘worked hard to ensure it provides the best possible service to the residents of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.’

A Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "We now have more fire engines available during the day after introducing a new shift system allowing us to use our people in a different way to crew fire engines, as well as looking at different ways to encourage people to join our on-call stations.

“Although the number of on-call firefighters we have has fluctuated over recent years, we have put a lot of things in place to ensure we know and can manage the availability of our fire engines far more effectively. We can also move our firefighters around where needed so our key stations have enough people to crew a fire engine.”

‘Pushed to our limits’

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service added that last week’s heatwave ‘pushed us to our limits’ as ‘neighbouring services were also under severe pressure.’

"Our staff have fantastic levels of commitment, with our on-call crews answering our call to provide additional cover for their communities. We planned as best we could for the conditions and had more fire engines available to respond and they were certainly needed.

“We have struggled to recruit and retain on-call staff over the years and it remains a significant challenge due to a number of factors, but we have seen success over the years - with some stations always able to recruit firefighters.

"We would urge anyone that might be interested in joining the Service to visit our website to find out more. You will need to live or work within five minutes of your local fire station.”

Fire service is being ‘dismantled’

There are over 8,000 fewer firefighters in England than there were in 2011, official figures show. The Fire Brigades Union say that the service is being ‘dismantled’ and that frontline firefighters have been ‘let down.’

“Firefighters are at the forefront of the climate emergency,” Matt Wrack, the Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said.

"The demands of the job are increasing but our resources have been under attack by government cuts for over a decade.

“We have warned of the growing threat for years but our concerns have fallen on deaf ears. The brutal truth is that government ministers and Chief Fire Officers have ignored the warning signs which have been obvious for all to see.

“There is a growing anger at the way firefighters have been treated for more than a decade and at the way our service is being dismantled in front of our eyes.”

‘Rescue performance is declining rapidly’

Inspection reports for fire and rescue services in England, as part of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services reports, were released today (July 27).

The reports consist of fifteen fire and rescue service inspections, which Tam McFarlane, national officer of the Fire Brigades Union, said highlight how ‘cuts to resources’ has resulted in ‘fire and rescue performance declining rapidly.’

"It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain public safety,” he said. “Fire and rescue services responded to almost 150,000 fires in 2021; non-fire incidents have increased by 18%; and 2021 saw a 27% increase in fire-related fatalities. Meanwhile, average response times are up by nearly 40 seconds since 2010/11.

“It’s particularly shocking that eight of the fifteen services inspected don’t have enough fire protection staff to carry out vital fire safety work and that services are over reliant on overtime to provide operational response - a direct impact of the cuts made to funding and firefighter jobs.”