Almost a dozen lives were lost to fires in Greater Manchester last year

The Fire Brigades Union is urging the Government to stem cuts to firefighting services after they branded a 27 per cent increase in fire fatalities across England as 'terrifying'.

Home Office statistics show 11 people died last year as a result of fires attended by the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service - in line with 2020 but up from 10 in 2019.

Nationally, there were 280 fire fatalities in 2021 – the highest number since 2017, when the Grenfell Tower disaster occurred, claiming 72 lives.

There were 98 deaths between October and December, the most recorded for the period since 2008.

The Home Office said that numbers can fluctuate between quarters, but will be monitoring trends moving forward.

The FBU called the rising number of deaths an "utter tragedy" but said that it is not surprising, given Government cuts to firefighting services over the last decade.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU, said: "The Government has cut around 11,000 firefighters since 2010 and response times have lengthened.

"This should serve as a real wake-up call – as if they needed yet another."

In Greater Manchester, crews attended 10,510 fire callouts in 2021, up from 10,464 the year before.

There were 540 fire-related casualties – of those, 202 required hospital treatment.

Nationally, the number of non-fatal casualties fell by 6%, from 6,585 to 6,201, and less than 0.5 per cent of all fires led to at least one fatality.

In response to these figures, the Home Office said it has delivered a successful 'Fire Kills' campaign and is working with the National Fire Chiefs Council to keep people safe.

It has provided the NFCC with a £1.1 million grant to deliver fire prevention awareness programmes.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are committed to fire prevention awareness to save lives.

"Every life lost to fire is a tragedy and, while they are down 12% when compared with 10 years ago, we know there is more to do."