Union brands Bedfordshire Fire Service staffing levels "dangerous"
The FBU's called cuts to emergency response "a critical failure" by managers - but bosses deny the claim and say plans are in place
Last updated 24th Jul 2025
The Fire Brigade Union in Bedfordshire is calling for urgent action on what it describes as a "dangerous firefighter staffing crisis", a position denied by management of the service.
The FBU's condemning senior leaders at BFRS for "presiding over a critical failure in risk management, after it emerged the service is being forced to cut emergency response resources due to a major shortfall in firefighter recruitment."
The union claims 30 more firefighters are needed to return to "safe and sustainable" levels and they've criticised "inaction" by Chief Fire Officer Andy Hopkinson, saying that recruitment and training of new staff would take at least 18 months.
The full statement from the union also highlights the current "high risk" season and the fact that Bedfordshire declared a major incident in July 2022 during that heatwave, when firefighters were hospitalised due to exhaustion.
FBU executive council member and serving Bedfordshire firefighter Jamie Newell said, "Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is critically understaffed, with dangerously low numbers of firefighters available to protect the public. This is the result of the chief fire officer failing to address a crisis in recruitment and retention.
"To rub salt in the wound, firefighters have seen the number of senior officer roles in the brigade increase, meaning there is now one senior officer for every wholetime station. FBU members have raised serious concerns over the lack of transparent processes around some of these appointments.
"Firefighters across the county are clear: resources must be directed where they are needed most - towards maintaining safe, effective crewing and the ability to respond to emergencies.
"The FBU is calling for immediate action to address the firefighter staffing crisis and ensure that public safety is not further compromised."
In response Assistant Chief Fire Officer Jim Davies, Director of Service Delivery at Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said, "We currently have enough firefighters to ride fire engines to give the people of Bedfordshire the emergency service they deserve.
"We completely agree with the FBU: resources must be directed to where they are needed most to maintain a safe and effective response to emergencies.
"Owing to the changing risk profile of Bedfordshire, work has already started on a new Community Risk Analysis earlier than anticipated. This will inform what we need and where we need it, to be able to deal with the changing risks of Bedfordshire; we need to keep pace with our growing county.
"The Service has identified a period of potential higher turnover in the future, however, a plan is in place to mitigate this and ensure communities receive the same level of service.
"We have a planned range of options to increase the number of wholetime firefighters when they are needed, to ensure crewing levels maintain our fire engine availability."