Firefighters at crisis point, says union

A BBC freedom of information request has revealed that one-in-five retained fire stations in Hampshire were unavailable for more than half of the year in 2024.

Regional Secretary of the Southern branch of the FBU, Mark Chapman, said "the public would be surprised and should be concerned" by the "shocking" statistics.

The government has said it "understood the challenges" and was increasing funding for fire authorities by an average 3.6%.

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