A staggering 10,693 sick days were taken by uniformed firefighters across the county during the last year.

However, figures published by the Essex Fire Authority show the number has dropped by 334 days compared to the same ten-month period from April 1999 to January 2000. Essex Fire Service has 998 full and part-time uniformed staff.

A report by Chief Fire Officer David Turner, said: "Clearly current levels are disappointing but the trend over the last three years shows a distinct improvement overall."

The worst month for sickness during the last year was June when 1,302 were away from work. It compares to the lowest month, December, when only 982 sick days were taken. In terms of non-uniformed staff - an increase in long-term sickness has been blamed for a rise in sickness levels.

The latest figures show 2,063 sick days were taken, an increase of 141 days from 1,922 from the previous year. The data will be presented to the fire authority at County Hall in Chelmsford on Wednesday.

It shows that while the number of call-outs has increased during the past 12 months, the amount of false alarms has dropped.

Firefighters attended 28,426 calls over the year, compared to 26,588 the year before. August was their busiest month, with 2,991 calls. The number of false alarms dropped from 5,136 to 4,982.

By Sarah Hutley

Reporter's e-mail: sarah.hutley@notes.newsquest.co.uk

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