According to documents seen by the BBC, a number of fire stations in Scotland are set to be closed, meaning some firefighters are expected to lose their jobs.
Papers which have been circulated to senior management within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service state that as it stands, the current model won’t be able to last beyond the end of the financial year.
The BBC were informed by the Fire Brigades Union Scotland that there are lots of fire engines which are essentially unusable due to the lack of crews on hand to take them out.
Unsurprisingly, Alasdair Hay – Scotland’s fire chief – was less than impressed, and stated that the service needs to be “transformed” as the existing model is “still rooted in 1947.”
In addition to this, Hay also said that the service needs a “planned and safe” change in order to adapt to the rough and tumble of the 21st Century, with the collective aim being to look at the “collective resource” across Scotland and try and figure out a way to secure the best balance of on-call retained crews and full-time firefighters.
Hay also suggested that it could be possible for rural stations to have full-time stage available in order to carry out “vital preventative” work, while urban fire stations may feel inclined to adopt the “retrained” model of on-call fire crews at certain times.
He then claimed that firefighters are now being tasked with a much wider role than their normal duties, especially when it comes to providing emergency medical care and tackling terrorism, but those who adapt to that by redesigning their roles and taking on board the new skillset required, they would be in line for a significantly better pay rise.
Almost five years ago, Scotland;s eight regional fire services merged together into one single service, but since April 2013, the SRFS has lost over 700 firefighters after being under significant pressure to keep their costs low. Their budget is around £260m.
As of yet, no fire stations have been identified for closure.
