by NADEEM BADSHAH
FIRE service chiefs have been urged to investigate the lack of diversity after figures showed only 0.6 per cent of firefighters in England are of Asian origin.
Home Office data showed there were 203 British Asians in 2018, which makes up less than one per cent, compared to 1.3 per cent of black firefighters and 95.9 per cent of whites.
The figure of 0.6 per cent has remained around the same since 2011 with the majority of Asians taking up roles as support staff. Census data shows the figure should be around eight per cent.
It comes as a fire and rescue service is recruiting new firefighters for the first time in 10 years. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service launched an awareness campaign before the application window for the jobs opens on July 1.
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood told Eastern Eye: “The Fire Service does a fantastic job, it’s resources are limited.
“But we need to endure when the government puts money in or if there is a new government, they prepare to get more diverse and promote understanding of the fire service.
“They need people to understand the community and help people understand how fires are caused for people who perhaps cannot speak English.
“Having ethnic minority firefighters explain to them how fires build up to prevent more
from happening, it’s a positive thing to do.
“The Fire Service should strive in the first instance. The [0.6 per cent figure] is very low, a real effort needs to be made in schools and colleges, and more outreach work to have open days in the community.”
The area with the largest number of south Asians in the fire service was London, with 81, followed by the West Midlands with 19 and Yorkshire with 17.
One of the senior employees is Narinder Dail, London Fire Brigade borough commander
for Hackney. Andy Dark, assistant general secretary of the Fire Brigade Union, called for a probe into the reasons for the lack of BME personnel on the frontline.
He told Eastern Eye: “The under-representation of women and people from ethnic minorities in the fire and rescue service is not easily explained.
“For many years, new recruitment had virtually dried up, but this situation has changed.
“The governments and central administrations for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – whether independently or collectively – need to establish roundtable discussions with lead officials from fire and rescues services and key stakeholders to establish the root causes for this situation.”
Separate Home Office research shows 4.1 per cent (1,293) of firefighters were from an
ethnic minority group in England in 2018 compared to 3.9 per cent in 2017.
Last year the Home Office launched a campaign to encourage more women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds to join. It published a fitness guide for women along with “mythbusters” to clear up common misunderstandings around the role.
The National Fire Chiefs Council also urged people to become on-call firefighters.
One of the role models for the initiative was father-of-four Shahbaz, 47, who said his
understanding of Asian culture and languages has been invaluable when working in the community.
Responding to the latest figures, a spokeswoman for the NFCC said: “The fire service is accessible to everyone, regardless of gender, background and ethnicity; our national work with all fire services across the UK encourages more people to apply to become firefighters.
“It is essential that we are attracting the talent of tomorrow and not deterring people
from applying.
“We also work on the perception of what it is to be a firefighter to everyone; it should not be seen as a male-dominated role, or groups of people feeling they are exclude from applying.
“While we are seeing the number of minority groups in the fire service increasing, we want to ensure we are continuously building on this and developing a fire service that is representative of the communities we serve.”
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