(28 October 2014) Firefighters across Europe are united in our commitment to provide an excellent, professional service tackling all kinds of emergencies and disasters faced by our communities. Yet neoliberal austerity policies in many countries have slashed funding for firefighting and civil protection. EPSU and unions affiliated to the European firefighters’ network are sounding the alarm. These cuts put lives at risk and cost the economy millions. We want investment in our fire and rescue services, to make our communities resilient and our peoples safe.
Firefighters – first responders to every conceivable disaster
Globally there are nearly 400 disasters every year, including floods, landslides, storms, droughts, earthquakes, fires and extreme temperature. Around 100,000 people die annually in these disasters and over 200,000 are victims. Firefighters from Europe, alongside our sisters and brothers from other nations, respond magnificently to these disasters – continually demonstrating that our service is absolutely irreplaceable in the modern world.
Last year globally, nearly 10,000 people died in flooding and almost 9,000 during storms. Cyclone Haiyan affected over 16 million people, while cyclones in India and China, along with other disasters in the Philippines, Thailand and Zimbabwe subjected millions to devastation. Although 90% of victims were in Asia, no continent or country remains free from the risks of extreme weather. The only viable response to climate change is global interdependence and solidarity. Firefighters will be at the forefront of meeting these challenges, helping communities prepare when emergencies are forecast, evacuating vulnerable people, rescuing victims and assisting with recovery.
In Europe, disasters account for a significant part of firefighters’ work. This year, firefighters have responded to forest fires in Greece and Sweden, while Bulgaria, Montenegro, Albania, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and Portugal previously received assistance with wild fires. Similarly, some 22 states sent assistance and nearly 700 relief workers to Serbia and to Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 2014 during widespread flooding. These teams rescued more than 1,500 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina alone.
In 2013, flooding in South and East Germany was the world’s most costly natural disaster, costing an estimated €10bn, while subsequent storms in Germany cost almost €4bn. A heat wave in the UK in July 2013 cost 760 lives, the third highest death toll globally for the year. One in eight people in the Czech Republic were hit by disasters in 2013, the sixth highest as a proportion of total population across the globe. Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece alone experience on average 50,000 forest fires every year, with over 400,000 hectares burned annually.
The long-term trend is for an increased number of disasters, requiring external assistance from outside of the locality where it occurs. The European civil protection mechanism has been activated 17 times over the last three summers to respond to forest fires inside and outside of Europe. The European Union (EU) has received more than 180 requests for assistance to disasters since the turn of the century. Over the past two decades, recorded disasters in Europe alone have killed almost 90,000 people, affected more than 29 million and caused €211 billion in economic losses.
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