Firefighters across the country told the Observer the service was at a “tipping point” with more crew than ever forced to take on jobs such as personal trainers, painters and decorators or in warehouses. Salaries in the fire service are often around £30,000 but can be as high as £23,000. “When I started the job just a few years ago, I had a good prospect of being able to buy a house and pay my bills – but, with inflation, I’m being priced out of this job,” said one. “I want to do this job, I want to help people… but I can’t afford to own a house, I can’t afford to have a family right now. I’m not asking for much.” “You will think [as an emergency service worker] they will look after you, but you are not,” he added. The fire service is already facing record understaffing, with a Guardian analysis finding that numbers in England have fallen by 20.4% since 2010, while local government funding for fire services has been cut by 14% over the past five years . The firefighters are being voted out by the Fire Department in what would be its first strike in nearly a decade. The union, which represents more than 32,000 of the country’s roughly 40,000 fire and rescue staff, is in a dispute with the government over a proposed 2% pay award, which the union says would leave firefighters facing a real pay cut with inflation at 9.9%. . The union says that, adjusted for inflation, firefighters saw their wages drop by 12 percent between 2009 and 2021. Lloyd Akers, FBU spokesman and Scunthorpe firefighter, said he could only afford to heat two rooms in his house last winter – his infant son’s and the living room – before the latest rises in heating bills. “If I’m honest, I feel like a failure of a father that I can’t take care of my son,” he told the Observer. “I honestly don’t know how we’re going to get through this winter.” A London firefighter, who asked not to be named to avoid repercussions at work, said despite having two jobs and a full-time wife, his family is on £160 a month for essentials . “It’s at the point now where we don’t have any luxury in life. We don’t have a social life, I don’t drink or smoke. I don’t have any hobbies. We don’t buy clothes for ourselves, we buy the cheapest food we can get. I cut my own hair. We literally cut absolutely everything,” he said. “And that’s before this latest spike in inflation. “I’ve spent the last 12 years pulling the belt and I don’t have another belt to pull in. And I can’t do a third job, I have to go to bed at some point,” he added. “I’m not at the point where I need to use a food bank yet, but if this continues, I can’t guarantee I won’t be.” Darrell George, a spokesman for the FBU and a 25-year veteran of the London Fire Service, said levels of poverty and financial hardship for firefighters were the highest they had ever been. “When I came, some people had to take on second jobs for some luxuries – now everyone has to do it to pay basic bills,” he said, adding that he has taken on extra overtime and works as a painter and decorator to make ends meet. “For me personally, it means that sometimes I work over 100 hours a week. Between 80 and 100 hours a week is normal and I don’t lead an extravagant lifestyle.” He added: “The government is willing to gamble with public safety. We are no longer considered an insurance policy. We must always try to prove our worth, to justify our existence.” Darrell George, a 25-year veteran of the London Fire Brigade. Photo: Suki Dhanda/The Observer A manager in Norfolk said the number of recruits applying for the fire service had fallen by 80% since he joined more than 30 years ago. Many shared concerns for the safety of firefighters and citizens if funding cuts, understaffing and overwork continue to worsen, with one warning that it was “a matter of time before people die”. “Ordinary workers should not pay the price of the cost of living crisis: they did not cause it. However, that is the position we are in,” said FBU general secretary Matt Wrack. “The 2% pay cut for firefighters won’t be enough to stop the growing number of firefighters using food banks and struggling to pay their mortgage.” The Home Office did not respond to a request for comment.
