FIRE-FIGHTING heroes have been let down by governments and managers who played petty blame games rather than act to save lives, a damning new report said yesterday.

The University of Stirling report into the deaths of 14 firefighters found that managers “periodically ignored” better safety practice over a 10-year period.

And researchers called on councils and fire brigades to resist budget cuts — which the Fire Brigades Union warned would only make matters worse.

The report, which covers 2004-13, slams the current system of “self-regulation” in brigades, saying a national model of best practice must be rolled out fast.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack made a heartfelt appeal last night for authorities to come together to end safety abuses.

“In the UK over the last 10 years, 14 firefighters have died in the line of duty,” he said.

“The FBU recognises that its members work in a dangerous environment. 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.”

Professor Andrew Watterson, who compiled the report, skewered the Tories yesterday for simplistic attempts to cut costs in the name of “red tape.”

“There is little evidence to show that in practice fire health and safety laws, regulations and codes are applied when they should not be or that they weigh down the economy,” he wrote. “Where such agendas are not relevant to fires, they should be abandoned.

“There is no evidence of either a compensation culture existing among firefighters or a trivial approach to health and safety operating in firefighting and there is widespread agreement about the hazards of the occupation.”

Making detailed recommendations for the improvement of risk assessments, accountability and structural failures, Prof Watterson pre-empts buck-passing from the councils he says will be crucial to implementing a better safety regime.

“If public expenditure cuts prevent local authorities fulfilling these requirements, then local authorities and bodies such as the Local Government Association may need to challenge such cuts and ensure that their electorates and their employees are fully informed about the implications of the cuts to the public and fire safety,” he said.

Mr Wrack said his union would call a series of “urgent meetings” with councils, fire bosses and ministers to “focus minds on what can be done.”

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

“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.”

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government, which oversees fire services, said the report was “fundamentally flawed” and “ignores the most recent statistics and has not spoken to many of those who contribute to firefighter safety.

“However, there is no room for complacency, and the government, fire and rescue authorities and many others work continuously to improve equipment, training and safety standards,” he added.

The FBU is currently locked in a bitter dispute with the Con-Dem government over plans to raise firefighters’ retirement age from 55 to 60 and make workers pay more into their pension pots.