Climate risks prompt fire and rescue funding demands from FBU and NGOs

Climate groups back FBU call ahead Budget

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has coordinated a joint letter urging the UK government to increase funding for the fire and rescue service in response to climate-related risks.

The union said the intervention comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to deliver the Budget and follows discussions at COP30 on the global response to the climate crisis.

According to the letter, addressed to the Chancellor and Environment Secretary Ed Miliband, environmental and tax justice organisations including Greenpeace, Tax Justice UK, Friends of the Earth, Tipping Point UK and Global Justice Now have joined the call.

The signatories stated that the UK is “dangerously under-prepared” for the growing threat of wildfires, flooding and the wider impacts of climate change and that current arrangements do not match the risk profile set out in government assessments.

The letter asks the government to commit to substantial, long-term investment in fire and rescue provision across the UK as part of wider climate adaptation measures.

The signatories of the joint letter said: “But we also need to adapt.

“There is stark evidence that the UK is dangerously under-prepared for the growing threat of wildfires, flooding, and the wider impacts of the climate crisis.”

Wildfire and flooding risks set out for UK

The letter cites data from the Global Wildfire Information System indicating that by November 2025, wildfires had burned 47,026 hectares in the UK, the largest area recorded since monitoring began in 2012.

According to the signatories, this figure is more than double the area affected during the record-breaking summer of 2022.

Scientific projections referenced in the letter state that the number of days with “very high” fire danger is expected to triple by the 2050s and increase more than five-fold by the 2080s.

The projected rise in fire danger is described as a threat to public safety across the UK, with a particular concentration in southern and eastern England.

The signatories also reference the Met Office’s UK Climate Projections, which indicate that the risk of intense rainfall is increasing sharply.

Evidence from the Committee on Climate Change and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is cited as pointing to higher flood risk across the UK, including from seas, rivers and surface water.

The letter notes that the government’s National Risk Register already lists both wildfires and severe flooding as major national threats capable of causing prolonged disruption to infrastructure, utilities, transport networks and public health.

The signatories argue that, despite this assessment, there is currently no UK-wide strategy to prepare fire and rescue services for climate impacts and no dedicated investment programme aimed at building resilience.

Funding model for fire and rescue challenged

The FBU and co-signatories state that the fire and rescue service has lost nearly 12,000 firefighters since 2010, which they describe as one in five posts.

According to the letter, central government funding for the service has fallen by 30% in cash terms over the same period, with a steeper reduction once inflation is taken into account.

The signatories argue that these trends have contributed to equipment shortages, under-staffed control rooms and gaps in protective gear, with off-duty firefighters frequently recalled during extreme incidents.

The letter references a wildfire in Holt Heath, Dorset, in August 2025, where 17 fire and rescue services were mobilised, including crews from Greater Manchester and Merseyside.

It states that many firefighters attending that incident did not have specialist wildfire personal protective equipment (PPE), which the signatories say exposed crews to increased risks of heat stroke, exhaustion and burns.

The signatories also highlight the 2022 heatwave in London, when temperatures reached 40°C and 39 fire engines reportedly remained uncrewed due to firefighter shortages.

The letter states that this year’s Local Government Settlement from the Treasury has put fire and rescue services on a path towards further cuts.

Modelling by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), as cited in the letter, indicates that up to £102 million could be removed from fire and rescue budgets to address funding shortfalls, which the signatories say would further weaken major incident response.

The signatories concluded that this approach “is not a sustainable or safe model for climate resilience.”

They are calling for new central government funding to ensure sufficient firefighters, emergency fire control staff and specialist resources to meet wildfire and flooding risks.

They also want a statutory duty for fire and rescue services in England to respond to flooding, in line with existing arrangements in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The letter further calls for a UK-wide wildfire resilience strategy developed with the FBU and other stakeholders, with the aim of establishing consistent standards for planning, training and operational response.

The signatories said: “We urge you to act decisively to provide the investment, strategy and leadership that firefighters and the communities they protect urgently need to tackle the realities of climate change.”

Climate funding call and its impact on UK services

Fire and rescue chiefs and senior officers may need to review staffing models, resource allocation and specialist capability if the government responds positively to the funding proposals set out in the letter.

Emergency and disaster response managers could face changes in planning assumptions if projections about increased wildfire danger and intense rainfall are used to reshape national risk and resilience frameworks.

Procurement officers and equipment specifiers may see greater focus on specialist wildfire PPE and flood response capability if new investment is directed towards addressing the gaps described for incidents such as the Holt Heath wildfire.

Government departments responsible for local government finance and climate adaptation could have to balance NFCC modelling on potential £102 million cuts against the call from the FBU and partner organisations for expanded climate-related duties.

Training officers and instructors might need to adapt programmes to align with any UK-wide wildfire resilience strategy that sets new standards for planning, training and operational response across services.

Risk assessors and fire engineering consultants could use the combination of Met Office, Committee on Climate Change and DEFRA evidence cited in the letter to inform advice on community risk management plans and infrastructure resilience.