Surrey fire and rescue is suffering from the effect of cuts more than ever, says the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), after a new inspection of Surrey Fire and Rescue service claimed to find ‘progress’.

The union has pointed to low fire engine availability and a handful of concerning incidents as evidence for new cuts hitting the service hard.

HMICFRS has statutory responsibility for the inspection of fire and rescue services and police forces across the country. Their new report into Surrey Fire and Rescue Service has found that the service “requires improvement at effectively and efficiently keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks”, but also states that the service has “made good progress” including on “how it uses its resources to keep people safe”.

However, multiple incidents have cast doubt on the safety of the brigade’s ‘Making Surrey Safer’ plan, voted through in September 2019 in response to financial restraints and now implemented. The plan included removing seven fire engines, removing night-time cover at three fire stations, and axing 70 firefighter jobs.

In an incident last month an elderly man died after the first fire engine took 13 minutes to arrive, with a nearby fire station having been closed at night and this “substantially” lengthening response time. Previously this year, a life was lost after the first fire engine took 14 minutes to arrive, and last year fire crews had to wait 57 minutes for a high-reaching aerial appliance to reach a fire.

Overall, average response times in Surrey have gone up for every type of fire since 2018, according to Home Office figures.

Joe Weir, FBU Regional Secretary for South East region, said that:  “We are at an absolute crisis point, and this report, whilst containing some recognition of shortfalls, does not go far enough in identifying this. The idea that ‘progress’ has been made since 2018, the point of the last inspection, is ridiculous.  

“The brigade’s cuts under its ‘Making Surrey Safer’ plan – voted through in 2019, and brought in due to financial constraints – mean that fire engines are constantly out of use due to staff shortages, with average availability just 68.31%, and that response times are often missed. We have seen the human cost of that in recent incidents, including one last month where the first fire engine took 13 minutes to arrive, and a similar incident earlier in the year where the first engine took 14 minutes to arrive

“Tory austerity since 2010 has been a disaster for Surrey Fire and Rescue, with the service losing nearly one in every five of its firefighters since that point. Between 2013 and 2020 fire and rescue services across the UK saw their real-terms spending cut by 38%.

“Morale in Surrey fire and rescue is at an all-time low, and no wonder: firefighters want to be proud of the service they provide to their community.”