Fire crew shortages
The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service submitted its quarterly performance report to the Comhairle’s Community Safety Board in November, setting out the continued challenges the Service faces in maintaining adequate fire cover for the islands.
The Report details that the Uist service was running 15 short of the full complement of firefighters, compromising service availability across Uist’s four fire stations. The staffing shortfall meant that in the period July to September this year, Lochboisdale, Lochmaddy and Bayhead stations were without day time cover for around 25% of the time, with a similar picture for overnight cover in Lochboisdale and a reduced night time service in Lochmaddy.
The Report to the Community Safety Board states: “Recruitment and retention still remains a significant challenge across the Isles. These challenges vary depending on the location and size of the communities where our fire stations are located, the nature of full time employment undertaken and the flexibility and willingness of local employers to release staff for CPD training an emergency calls.
The Report also notes that: “HIAL personnel and appliance are now available to respond to emergencies out with the curtilage of the airport on both Barra and Benbecula. This demonstration of effective partnership working and mutual aid is being identified as a possible blueprint for other remote/rural areas in Scotland.”
Area Commander Iain Macleod, SFRS Local Senior Officer for Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland said: “We always maintain fire cover. At no point is there no cover for any area in Scotland. The nearest available appliance is mobilised to an incident to ensure every emergency is attended. This can involve the strategic movement of appliances and individual personnel from other stations within the area if required.
“In North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist we have approximately 40 Firefighters across four fire stations – these local, committed and dedicated firefighters have the flexibility to combine fire and rescue commitment to their communities with their everyday lives; that flexibility means we have to also have arrangements in place to monitor and maintain fire and rescue provision for all incidents, utilising, for example, our neighbouring stations to combine crews to allow appliances to attend incidents or deploying full time personnel to specific locations where needed.”
The Report to the Comhairle comes as the Fire Brigades Union prepares to ballot for strike action.
Highlands & Islands MSP Rhoda Grant said: “To see a large proportion of the Highlands and Islands not covered by Firefighter cover is terrifying. Rural communities feel isolated enough and this is a further example of urban approaches not working in rural areas and I wish to see it addressed urgently.”
