Funding plea as extreme weather strains Cornwall fire crews

Funding plea as extreme weather strains fire crews Image caption, Fire Brigades Union member Jon Walker said the current system in Cornwall was becoming unsustainable By Seb Noble Cornwall political reporter Published 11 minutes ago The level of funding given to fire and rescue services does not reflect the role they play in the nation's resilience, firefighters in Cornwall have said. They cited the increasing demands on firefighters of having to respond to extreme weather events this year, including storms and wildfires.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) warned reliance in Cornwall on retained firefighters was not sustainable and the system was beginning to feel the pressure of increased demand, with fire chief Kathryn Billing revealing about half the brigade responded to Storm Austen . The government said it was investing about £2bn in fire services and another £45m into new equipment to help crews deal with wildfires. More than 70% of firefighters in Cornwall work on a retained basis, where they have other jobs and are on-call to respond when needed.

More news stories for Cornwall Listen to the latest news for Cornwall County FBU organiser Jon Walker said the system had been tested like never before over recent months. He said: "The retained personnel in the service have gone over and above this summer and they have worked tirelessly, maybe 15 hours a day, responding to these emergencies. "From a long-term aspect, I think this is unlikely to be sustainable and we can't keep asking these people who are doing this effectively as a second job.

"We are definitely finding more pressure on crews and more pressure on families and businesses trying to maintain that level of emergency response." Walker said this summer's wildfires had exposed the fragility of the existing structure and called on ministers to recognise this with more financial support. He said: "We need more help from government, we need more funding, we need more people. We're getting busier, storm events are getting more frequent and more extreme.

"We're taking on more and more that's not within our statutory duty necessarily, and we're still doing it because there's nobody else to call." Image caption, Cornwall chief fire officer Kathryn Billing said fire services need to be seen as more critical to the nation's resilience Giving evidence before a group of MPs last week, Cornwall's chief fire officer said the risks fire and rescue services faced had "changed significantly". "The question is whether the resilience arrangements that we have in place are changing quickly enough to keep up," Billing said.

"Fire and rescue services really need to be seen as part of the nation's resilience arrangements." Billing said about half of her brigade was needed to respond during Storm Austen and resilience "can't rely on goodwill alone". "We tend to invest in preparedness or prevention once the crisis has happened," she said. "The challenges, the risk that our nation faces, requires that investment now. "Let's invest in peace time, let's ensure the fire and rescue service is prepared to step into that resilience space." 'Extraordinary efforts' A government spokesperson said: "We recognise the extraordinary efforts of firefighters in Cornwall and across the country to protect their communities from the devastating impacts of wildfires and severe weather.

"We've also heard loud and clear that more needs to be done. "That's why, at the [recent] Wildfire Summit , we announced £45m for new protective equipment for firefighters, alongside new military aerial support to respond to wildfires. "This comes on top of the almost £1.95bn we made available for fire and rescue authorities in England this year." Follow BBC Cornwall on X , external , Facebook , external and Instagram , external . Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk , external .

Related topics Cornwall Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service Wildfires Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Fire Brigades Union Firefighting More on this story First storm of season brings day of disruption Published 23 October Crews tackle more than 170 wildfires and counting Published 13 August Goretti among 'most impactful' storms in decades Published 15 January Related internet links Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government