Holme Fen blaze prompts firefighters union calls for better funding deal
Crews from across the country were called to the fire
A union has warned that without extra money, firefighters in Cambridgeshire won't be able to handle future wildfires.
"The environment is always changing and I think the funding would need to continue growing with those risks," Mark Harriss, secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) Cambridgeshire branch, said.
"It's clear we run a risk that if we (the fire service) or the Government doesn't increase the funding, of more of these types of situations getting out of hand."
A week ago, Cambridgeshire Fire Service (CFRS) handed back control of Holme Fen Nature Reserve to Natural England after tackling a blaze there for a month.
More than 100 firefighters from across the country - such as Merseyside - were brought in to help local crews with extra resources.
Need for better funding
Mark - one of the first firefighters called to the scene when the fire broke out on August 8 - said the incident was one of the "most challenging" of his career so far.
"We have to have better funding for the fire service; we've been screaming about it for years and years," he said.
"I don't think there's a one-off figure; what we need is sufficient resources and the training and equipment that is going to back that up to cope with whatever the emerging risks are."
Funding for fire and rescue services is made up of both central government grants and money raised from council tax.
Fire services 'strained to breaking point'
In a report, the FBU said fire and rescue services have been "strained to breaking point" due to a shortage of resources.
The union said since 2010, more than one in five firefighter jobs have been lost and called on ministers to put "proper plans in place with the necessary resources to support them."
Earlier this year, the Government committed to giving fire services an extra £15 million for standalone fire and rescue authorities, which it said would increase the amount it can spend on delivering a service for the 2026-27 financial year than the year before.
“We know fire services like Cambridgeshire work tirelessly to keep their community safe," a Government spokesperson said.
“That’s why we’re making £44.7m available for them this financial year - an increase of 6.7% compared to last year – alongside investing almost £100m nationally to upgrade the vehicles and equipment used to respond to incidents like wildfires.”
'Never known a fire like it'
Last month, CFRS said up to 10,000 litres of water was being used to dampen the smoke at Holme Fen every minute.
Matthew Warren, Cambridgeshire's chief fire officer, told us he's "never known a fire that's gone on for this long with this amount of resources."
The FBU said in its report the number of wildfires are "on the rise year on year" nationally, warning that the current situation in terms of resources is unsustainable.
For Mark, he believes calls for more support are not exactly new.
"Nationally, we've known there's a climate crisis; every year, we either get a really hot summer and have massive field fires or have a really wet winter," he said.
"We need better equipment, training in order to deal with these emerging risks, we need more people.
"When you've got firefighters being asked to spend six, eight, 10 hours working incredibly hard at the same job, it does take a toll and if we've got more people, we can offer that turnaround more often and keep more people refreshed."
'Over-reliance' on other fire crews
A spokesperson for CFRS said a wildfire fund has been created by the Government for fire and rescue services to claim back costs dealing with major incidents, like at Holme Fen.
But the spokesperson said it would still have to pay a certain fee before it can claim back from the fund.
The FBU's report added that funding needs to rise to "end the postcode lottery of wildfire response, including over-reliance on cross border assistance agreements."
Mark fears that too much reliance on other fire crews may not bode well for the future.
"It just shows deficiencies in our own resources; if there were a couple of other of these types of incidents which are becoming more common, what if those resources weren't available to us?" he said.
"The situation at Holme Fen could have been a lot worse."
Stuart Smith from CFRS said he has "no doubt" there will be lessons to be learned from how the service managed the Holme Fen fire.
The Government said it will meet with fire and rescue services to ensure they are "properly resourced going forwards".
It also said a review of the current fire funding formula is taking place ahead of the next Budget.