FIRE and rescue personnel urgently need coronavirus testing, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned.

It says services have lost up to 12 per cent of their firefighters and control staff to self-isolation.

Nearly 3,000 fire and rescue staff are in self-isolation and unable to work, representing 5.1 per cent of the UK’s overall fire and rescue workforce.

According to the union, a total of 29 staff at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are currently self-isolating - 3.8 per cent of the workforce.

The FBU has said that, without urgent testing of frontline personnel, there will inevitably be an impact on brigades’ ability to provide fire cover and respond to other emergencies, including their work supporting the coronavirus response.

Some firefighters are now driving ambulances and assisting ambulance staff.

They are also delivering food and medicines to vulnerable people and helping the police.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “The Westminster government is playing with fire by not testing firefighters and control room staff for coronavirus. Currently, crews are maintaining services, but this will become increasingly difficult as the virus spreads. There are already thousands of firefighters and control staff in self-isolation, only a fraction of which will have the disease.

"If we aren’t able to find out exactly who is infected, and more staff isolate unnecessarily, services will be put on a dangerous knife-edge."