Our lazy firemen must make a radical change

Britain’s firefighters are under-worked and inflexible, says Leo McKinstry. It’s time we created a unified emergency service

A cooling breeze wafted through the plane trees under the inky-black Provence sky. In the distance, the band played as couples danced. The rural village’s annual summer celebration presented the gentlest of scenes. But suddenly there was a loud crash, followed by a commotion. I looked round to see the aftermath of a nasty accident. An elderly woman, standing near the dance area, had fallen over, badly gashing her mouth and breaking her front teeth.

Within minutes, a red emergency vehicle arrived. ‘What use is that? This lady obviously needs an ambulance, not a fire appliance,’ I thought to myself. Then three men jumped out. With a mixture of tenderness and confidence, they guided the injured woman into the back of the vehicle, where they gave her urgent medical treatment before setting off for hospital in a blast of sirens. Having spoken to a few local villagers, I soon had an answer to my question about the apparent dispatch of the fire engine. It turned out the French have one combined emergency service, the Sapeurs-Pompiers, uniting fire and ambulance work. There is no demarcation between the two types of crews.

The response to the incident I witnessed would have been unthinkable in Britain, where the split between fire and ambulance operations is rigidly maintained. Indeed, the Fire Brigades Union, for all its socialist rhetoric about compassion, has fought a long and bitter battle, including threats of strike action, to prevent its members serving as emergency medical staff. Bizarrely for an organisation which is meant to be serving the public, the FBU has even gone to court to ensure that fire crews do not have to take on any ambulance duties.