DISGRACEFUL and unacceptable physical assaults on firefighters and verbal abuse directed against control room staff must end, Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members demanded today.

Delegates gathered in Blackpool for the union’s 2023 conference unanimously backed a resolution which demanded more research into the worsening problem and a national campaign to protect key workers in the emergency service.

Attacks are at an all-time high, with almost one thousand firefighters now having suffered assaults while attending incidents, according to the latest Home Office figures.

Tyne-and-Wear delegate Chris Cook said: “Control room staff are subjected to disgraceful verbal abuse.

“We’ve got firefighters and officers all subjected to the same level of violence — all violence against anybody at work is unacceptable.”

He told delegates in the Imperial Hotel about a fire crew in Newcastle last January who were “lured into a dead end by a malicious call and surrounded by a gang of youths.

“They threw glass bottles filled with liquid. Luckily, the liquid never ignited,” he said.

“These firebombs were built were the intention to cause serious harm — or to even kill.”