Firefighter ‘will die because of cuts by Tories’
Crews ‘breaking safety protocols’
A FIREFIGHTER says it is a matter of “when, rather than if” he or a colleague will die in the line of duty.
Tommy Hughes said his force routinely has to break protocol to save lives as it is so short-staffed.
It follows our probe yesterday into Tory cuts.
Tommy, 38, said station closures meant fire engines are sent from different ones and a crew could wait 10 minutes for back-up.
The dad-of-one, of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, added: “Firefighters that should always stick [in pairs] are splitting up... one of us trying to save the life of a person trapped, the other trying to put the fire out. “The conversation now is not ‘if ’ but ‘when’ one of us is going to be killed.”
The Fire Brigade Union says there will have been a 48% cut in fire engines across Merseyside between 2010 and 2020.
Merseyside Fire & Rescue said three are sent to fires involving people, in an average five minutes, 41 seconds – up 35 seconds in 10 years.
But it said: “It is wrong to suggest this requires [crew] to break protocol.”