Fears firefighters will have to turn down rescues in Lincolnshire after staff numbers plummet
Years of Government cuts are being blamed
It's feared firefighters will have to start turning down rescues in Lincolnshire after staff numbers have plummeted.
We can reveal the amount serving the county has dropped 13% over the past 11 years.
In Humberside, it's shot down by 31%, that's 320 less than in 2010.
David Williams is from the Fire Brigade Union, which said years of Government cuts are to blame.
"It’s frightening, it really is.
"We’re not in the game of scaring communities, that’s not our thing, our game is about trying to reassure communities, but the bare facts speak for themselves.
"With fewer firefighters attending incidents in a much slower time, it puts firefighters at risk, and it puts the community at risk as well."
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said households deserve to feel protected.
“After years of huge government cuts and staffing falls there is a real threat that fire and rescue services may not be able to deal with every incident, and fight all fires: for example, we have heard senior service managers state that the public should lower their expectations that large wildfires can be tackled.
"The cuts are weakening the day-to-day work of the fire and rescue service in every single area; they are making people less safe.
"They also pose a threat to the ability to respond to large-scale incidents - particularly if more than one were to occur at the same time.
“We all want to be able to walk past fire stations and know that there are enough people in there to protect us.
"Firefighters will always do whatever they can to save lives. It’s time the government does the same.”
In response, a Home Office spokesperson said firefighters work tirelessly to protect our communities.
“The government has consistently given them the resources they need to keep people safe.
“In the last year, nearly 3,000 new firefighters have been recruited across the country and the Government has invested £2.3bn to support their lifesaving work.”
They also added that 2,845 new firefighters were recruited during 2019-20.