The firefighters' union slammed cuts to emergency services
Storms hit Porthcawl
By Camilla Royle
Saturday 07 December 2024
Saturday 07 December 2024
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue
Millions of people in Britain face life-threatening weather conditions after Storm Darragh hit on Saturday—just two weeks after Storm Bert.
The storm left 130,000 homes and businesses without power overnight and into the morning. A red weather warning was in place in the west of Wales and the Bristol Channel. Millions of people received a phone alert advising them to stay home.
Events ranging from Christmas markets, to flights at Cardiff airport to the Everton vs Liverpool football match have been cancelled or postponed. In Porthcawl, South Wales, a block of flats had its roof ripped off by strong winds.
Disasters are a window into the way society works. The storms this autumn have exposed how unprepared Britain is for extreme weather. When storms hit, the most marginalised in society are often the most vulnerable to devastation.
The government’s advice to people is to stock up on torches and batteries as they face power cuts. They are expected to fend for themselves, especially as fire and rescue services have been stripped back by years of austerity.
If people go out in the storm, the media blames them for not following the warnings.
The storms give a glimpse of the more chaotic world we can expect as climate change worsens.
Climate change fuels more tropical storms. But the Met Office says that autumn storms in Britain could also get more frequent and more intense.
Warming water in the oceans means that storms tend to have more energy, leading to stronger winds. The storms also pick up more water from the oceans leading to more rainfall. And rising sea levels contribute to storm surges in coastal areas.
Firefighters say they know an emergency when they see it.
Matt Wrack FBU firefighters’ union leader, said, “We have had so many warnings now but still our politicians are not taking climate change seriously.
“They’re not accelerating changes to our economy and our society as quickly as they need to. And they’re not investing in a vital piece of climate change adaptation—the fire and rescue service.”
Since 2010, central government funding for the fire service has been cut by 30 percent and 12,000 firefighter jobs have been lost.
The storms in Britain and Valencia in the Spanish state have shown that ordinary people will get together to clean up the damage after a storm hits. Even if the state abandons people, their friends and neighbours don’t.
We need to demand more action to stop the climate emergency, to rapidly cut back fossil fuel use and invest in rescue services to protect more people.
Millions of people in Britain face life-threatening weather conditions after Storm Darragh hit on Saturday—just two weeks after Storm Bert.
The storm left 130,000 homes and businesses without power overnight and into the morning. A red weather warning was in place in the west of Wales and the Bristol Channel. Millions of people received a phone alert advising them to stay home.
Events ranging from Christmas markets, to flights at Cardiff airport to the Everton vs Liverpool football match have been cancelled or postponed. In Porthcawl, South Wales, a block of flats had its roof ripped off by strong winds.
Disasters are a window into the way society works. The storms this autumn have exposed how unprepared Britain is for extreme weather. When storms hit, the most marginalised in society are often the most vulnerable to devastation.
The government’s advice to people is to stock up on torches and batteries as they face power cuts. They are expected to fend for themselves, especially as fire and rescue services have been stripped back by years of austerity.
If people go out in the storm, the media blames them for not following the warnings.
The storms give a glimpse of the more chaotic world we can expect as climate change worsens.
Climate change fuels more tropical storms. But the Met Office says that autumn storms in Britain could also get more frequent and more intense.
Warming water in the oceans means that storms tend to have more energy, leading to stronger winds. The storms also pick up more water from the oceans leading to more rainfall. And rising sea levels contribute to storm surges in coastal areas.
Firefighters say they know an emergency when they see it.
Matt Wrack FBU firefighters’ union leader, said, “We have had so many warnings now but still our politicians are not taking climate change seriously.
“They’re not accelerating changes to our economy and our society as quickly as they need to. And they’re not investing in a vital piece of climate change adaptation—the fire and rescue service.”
Since 2010, central government funding for the fire service has been cut by 30 percent and 12,000 firefighter jobs have been lost.
The storms in Britain and Valencia in the Spanish state have shown that ordinary people will get together to clean up the damage after a storm hits. Even if the state abandons people, their friends and neighbours don’t.
We need to demand more action to stop the climate emergency, to rapidly cut back fossil fuel use and invest in rescue services to protect more people.
No comments:
Post a Comment