TOWER INFERNO HORROR Fire checks at tower Vital safety audits hit by Tory austerity
CRUCIAL fire safety checks at tower blocks have been cut by a quarter since the Tories came to power in 2010, official figures reveal.
The number of fire safety audits dropped from 84,575 in 2010-11 to 63,201 in 2015-16, a 25 per cent dip.
Those in London fell from 14,651 to 13,709, a drop of 6 per cent.
And fire service budgets have been slashed from £419.9million in 20102011 to a projected £326.8million in 2019- 2020, according to the Fire Brigades Union.
The move has resulted in a dramatic decline in fire prevention inspections, 10,000 fewer firefighters, station closures and some appliances being taken off the road, the FBU said.
In London, ten fire stations have been closed, 27 fire engines axed and more than 600 firefighter posts cut.
The worrying figures will fuel growing safety concerns in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Worrying
FBU leader Matt Wrack said: “These reductions in fire safety audits and inspections are the result of declining standards over 30 years.
“They’re very concerning for us, especially in light of the dreadful events in West London.
“We’re also aware of a long-term reduction in the number of specialist fire safety officers within the service, which we estimate to be a cut of around two-thirds since 2004.
“With so many fire and rescue service jobs having gone since 2010 as a result of cuts, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that critical safety issues are affected. We desperately need to see this worrying trend reversed.”
The FBU wants 3,000 new frontline firefighters, as promised in Labour’s election manifesto, as a first step toward reversing cuts.
It also wants more fulltime fire prevention officers to carry out annual fire safety audits and home risk checks, plus extra manpower and resources to speed up response times to 999 calls.
And it said a new database of all tower blocks i n the UK should be created with risk assessments carried out on each one.
Currently, all buildings with a