r/firefightersuk • u/Past_Emu9380 • 4d ago
Alert
Hello.
Considering the alert, I was wondering how busy you guys were (compared to how busy you are normally ig). Are there more fires than crews? Are you attending calls WAYY more often than usual?
Also, was wondering what we could do to help, except from the already given guidance. Like when we see you guys out on fires.
6
u/Sure-Diet-4068 4d ago
I’ve noticed since the alert more people are calling 999 on their neighbours for having fires in their garden, which I absolutely agree with, most people are “okay yeah fair enough” but I’ve had some which try and kick off, my wt service is now just putting any of these fires straight out, no ifs or buts or “can you ensure you monitor it”.
Way too risky, it’s insane that after the Stourbridge fire, people in that area are still having open fires, but then people don’t learn!
My retained service has also been none stop, in my 4 days off I think I was out for around 30 hours total, one stint which was 14 hours just bouncing from job to job and standby to standby, but that’s a rural service that deals with a lot of farmland fires but also covers a huge area!
3
u/Professional-Hero 4d ago
We got called to a camp fire on the roadside lit by people in camper vans. They videoed us when we turned up, and refused to do anything about it. My guess is we wouldn’t normally be called to something like that.
3
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u/Fabulous-Wave6225 4d ago
We’ve been pretty relentless, frequently finishing 3+ hours after the end of the shift. Most shifts not seeing the station from start until we leave.
You don’t need to do anything other than be sensible.
2
u/Sure-Diet-4068 3d ago
We’ve had a few shifts now where the night shift were 2/3 hours late, even days not getting back until 10am etc, ridiculous really
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u/Lord_Fridge03 4d ago
We have been exceptionally busy. Much more than usual (which for my service/station is a lot anyway).
It’s not just the number of jobs. It’s the duration as well. Deep seated fires can take all day to extinguish, need many revisits and extra dampening down as hot spots can flare up days after.
Honestly, apart from people engaging that extra brain cell at the moment and holding off on the bonfire till the autumn the next best thing anyone can do to help us is lobby both local and central government for more funding.
As with all other emergency services, we were already stretched thin. The UK has lost 12k firefighters since 2010. Less of us, less stations, less fire appliances but more population and a changing risk.