East Sussex group says fire engine availability has ‘dropped to dangerous levels’

Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in East Sussex shared the map on Twitter on August 31.

The FBU is a trade union in the UK for wholetime firefighters, retained firefighters and emergency control room staff.

The tweet said: “After decades of government cuts to fire and rescue services, fire engine availability has dropped to dangerous levels.

"Without immediate investment from central government we will continue to see the availability levels seen today in East Sussex at 2pm.”

The map includes 24 pin points across East Sussex – 11 areas have no fire engines available, seven places have fire engines available, and six locations have 50 per cent availability. Unavailable: Forest Row, Wadhurst, Mayfield, Burwash, Broad Oak, Heathfield, Herstmonceux, Hailsham, Pevensey, Seaford, Barcombe50% available: Battle, Rye, Crowborough, Uckfield, Lewes, NewhavenAvailable: Preston Circus, Hove, Rodean, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Hastings, The Ridge

The union was questioned over how it came up with that map. A spokesperson said: “The map and graphics were created locally by the FBU. They accurately reflect the availability of appliances within the county on the day of the tweet.

“We plan to highlight availability further over the coming weeks to show that these availability issues are happening regularly.”

In response to these figures a spokesperson for the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said: “We keep our operational availability under regular review. During the timeframes quoted, our operational availability met our expectations and did not fall below minimum levels at any point.”

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