EMERGENCY services "would have struggled" if firefighters had been on strike during the weekend hurricane, revealed an Essex fire chief today.
Martin Powell, station commander at Brentwood Fire Station was speaking as the Fire Brigades Union suspended its first two 48-hour strikes threatened to start tomorrow (Tues), and on Saturday November 2.
During yesterday's gales, Essex Fire Service handled up to 400 calls in less than eight hours, compared with 30-40 in a normal 24 hour period.
Mr Powell described the likely result if firefighters had been on strike at the time. He said: "The army was not being deployed to do the supplementary services.
"It would have been left to the Police, the Ambulance Service and local authorities to deal with problems caused by the storm..."
For full story see Monday's Echo...
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