The Isle of Wight has 37 fewer firefighters than ten years ago, it's been revealed.
And, there are warnings that the staff shortages will mean crews "won’t be ready for major threats".
Although the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has seen 10 new additional crew members in the period between 2019 to 2020, figures show staff numbers are down by 17% compared to 2010.
The Fire Brigades Union says 11,000 UK firefighters and control room jobs have been lost in ten years.
It is calling for funding to recruit an additional 5,000 firefighters country-wide within in the next year.
Without additional crews, the FB says the public face a “roll of the dice” every time a major incident occurs.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said:
“Be it mass flooding and wildfires caused by climate change, huge post-Grenfell building safety challenges, terrorist attacks; or pandemics, firefighters are an all hazards emergency service on the frontline protecting the UK from the vast majority of major threats.
“But a decade of devastating cuts means that we can only effectively handle one of these crises at a time. The brutal reality is that, if and when mass-flooding or another major emergency hits this winter, it could impact firefighters’ ability to aid the pandemic response, or respond to another major incident.
”Increasingly, each time one of these major emergencies break out, the public face a roll of the dice, hoping that more than one won’t come at once - and it’s only a matter of time until we lose that gamble.
“Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak need to recognise the scale of risk faced by the public and fund the frontline firefighters who keep people safe. We need at least 5,000 new firefighters immediately to repair some of the damage austerity has done to our service and prepare for the risks of today and tomorrow.”
Non-fire incidents have soared by 12% over the last decade.
UK firefighters responded to 162,251 non-fire incidents last year – more than the total number of fires.
Surges in flooding and assisting other agencies drove a 6% increase from 2018-19 to 2019-20.
Firefighters, including on the Island, also took on fourteen new activities to respond to the first wave of the pandemic, including moving dead bodies, driving ambulances, and delivering Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
The FBU has today launched its #FundTheFrontline campaign, in which firefighters and members of the public will be asked to write to their MPs demanding urgent investment in the government’s one-year spending review.
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