Fire service ‘should be honest’ about riots

The FBU firefighters’ union has criticised a London Fire Brigade report which claims that the fire service had enough resources to cope during the English summer riots.

The union pointed out that the report into the fire service’s response to the widespread looting does not reflect how overstretched the service became. According to FBU regional secretary Joe MacVeigh: “The brigade was beyond breaking point, and it serves no-one for reports to be published which give a false representation of the situation.” Firefighters attended over 800 fires during the riots between 6 and 10 August 2011.

MacVeigh added: “There is no shame in admitting that resources were stretched. We know that these events were unprecedented, and it would be unreasonable to expect there not to be pressure on the service. So the brigade should be honest with people about the true picture, if only to ensure that lessons can be learned to ensure a better response in the future.”