Earlier this year, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, Humberside Police, East Midlands Ambulance Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service launched their ‘Don’t Cross the Line’ campaign, which aims to reduce the number of attacks on emergency services workers.
The latest Government figures show a rise in attacks towards firefighters in England and the Local Government Association, which represents councils and fire and rescue authorities in England has reported an increase of 66% from 2014/15 to 2018/19 statistics.
During 2018/19 Humberside Fire and Rescue Service reported 17 attacks and 11 of these were attacks against our firefighters. In 2019/20 we saw a decrease by two for reported attacks against our staff, however 14 out of the 15 reported attacks in 2019/20 were against our firefighters.
The reported attacks in 2019/20 include four reports of physical abuse and five reports of objects thrown at them and our vehicles whilst attending 999 incidents. Objects thrown at our firefighters included bricks and glass bottles and physical abuse includes punching and being spat at.
Chris Blacksell, Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive of Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said: “Attacks against our Service staff should never be accepted as part of the job; one attack is too many. Our staff live in the communities they help to keep safe and when they experience physical and verbal abuse it’s really disheartening.
“I would encourage members of the public to share our vision in ensuring we protect our emergency service workers; who work to protect them and ultimately help to save lives.
“We operate a zero tolerance approach to attacks on emergency services staff.”
Read the Local Government Association coverage of the latest Government figures here.