A REPORT commissioned by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to examine firefighter fatalities over the past decade has concluded that deaths could and should have been prevented.

The document, produced by the University of Sterling, examined the 14 UK firefighter deaths including Darren Yates-Badley, aged 24, and Ashley Stephens, aged 21, from Alcester who died after attending a fire at a vegetable packing plant warehouse in Atherstone on Stour.

Also attending to the blaze were colleagues, John Averis, who passed away at the scene, aged 27, and Ian Reid, 44, who died later in hospital.

In the report, Professor Andrew Watterson said: “Unnecessary deaths happened in avoidable circumstances. Risks were sometimes taken to save property that should not have been.

“Lessons were not learnt that should have been. Deaths could and should have been prevented.

“An analysis of brigade inspection and audit by internal and external bodies and regulation

"By external agencies indicates critical failures to ensure lessons were learnt from past firefighter at fire fatalities.

“Such bodies should ensure that effective defences in depth existed for firefighters in all brigades but they did not.

“Measures in place sometimes proved deficient for a variety of reason and failed to ensuring appropriate action by businesses, by local government and by regulators.

“Firefighters themselves recognised many of the key failings that led to fatalities.

“Incident command and control was another major concern linked to operational intelligence. The incidents in the report also reveal lethal failings by employers and businesses.

“Policy developments are often solely concerned with economic cases and frequently do not directly address the health and safety of firefighters or do so in the most superficial way.

“This gap between proposals about how fire services are run or should be run and the health, safety and wellbeing of those who will provide that service is a major cause for concern.

“Resources, staffing equipment, planning, training, management and supervision may be factors too in firefighter fatalities as the earlier sections of this report discuss.

“Reducing UK wide budgets and numbers of firefighters could lead to more deaths of both members of the public and firefighters. Firefighters deserve more protection not far less as is likely with government policies now under way."

Following the publication of the report, Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU, said: “Firefighters should expect to be able to go home to their families after their day’s work. They do not go to work to die.

“We assess the risks and take carefully planned action to rescue people, to deal with incidents and to make communities safe.

“Our members have the right to demand the best possible procedures, training, equipment and resources to enable us to do our job safely, effectively and professionally. That is not too much to ask.

“This report demonstrates a need for investment, not cuts to the fire and rescue service.

“Budget cuts mean reductions in training, staffing, equipment and fire stations and continued operational duties of older firefighters. This will lead inevitably to further fatalities in the future.”

“I call on government to treat this report with the same urgency that it would if 14 Members of Parliament weren’t going home to their loved ones.”