The Fire Brigades Union and London Fire Brigade have clashed over a man's death during the strike by firefighters over the weekend.
Minutes before the strike over pensions was due to end at 10pm on Saturday, firefighters were called to a flat in Hornsey, north London, where a man's body was found. The union posted a tweet at around midnight on Saturday which read: "Information coming in which suggests the London Fire Brigade's contingency plans failed disastrously tonight." That was followed by another that read: "Sadly a man died in a flat fire on Oakfield Road in Hornsey last night."
But an LFB spokesman said: "Based on early investigations … it is not believed that the strike made any difference to the outcome. It does not appear that either the contingency fire crews, or LFB's own crews, had they not been on strike, would have reached him in time and have successfully rescued him."
The strike was the sixth by the FBU since September. The LFB said that over the four hours 88 calls were received. It added: "Of these, contingency fire crews responded to 14 incidents."
A statement said two fire engines and 14 firefighters and officers attended the flat fire. The cause is being investigated.
