100 FIRE ENGINES OUT OF ACTION EVERY DAY
999 trucks unavailable due to staff crisis amid claims that bosses plan to cut MORE workers and stations
UP to 100 fire engines are out of action every day because of staff shortages, it has emerged.
Scotland’s chief fire officer Alasdair Hay made the admission as he defended plans for a “fundamental redesign of the service”.
The Scottish Government have been accused of using the shake-up to cut the number of firefighters and stations.
But Hay said yesterday: “We understand there are financial pressures out there and we are working very closely with the Government on the redesign of the fire service and to ensure it is properly and sufficiently funded.
“We have between 60 and 100 on call pumps unavailable each day – that is something we know.
“What we are talking about here is not cuts – and I have heard that term bandied about – what we are talking about is a fundamental redesign of the service.”
Community Safety Minister Annabelle Ewing has insisted the fire service needs to be transformed but has yet to release details of the Scottish Government’s plans.
A leaked document stated SFRS were looking to “rebalance” staff numbers and review their “station footprint”.
Ewing told MSPs at Holyrood that “no decisions” have been made about the service – but insisted work “requires to be done”. She said: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are exploring how they should develop to meet the new and emerging risks facing our communities, including how transformation of service delivery could see the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service do more. “No decisions have been made on what that transformation would look like. “And the transformation process will involve liaison and discussion with staff, partners and the public.” Ewing was responding to a question from Labour’s Claire Baker, who claimed 700 firefighters and £53million in spending had been cut from the SFRS since the single service was created in 2013. Baker said: “When the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service were created, we were promised that frontline services would be protected – these leaked papers today show that is not the case.” Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said the transformation was “code for cuts”. He asked: “How can the minister reassure the public that our fire services performance will not suffer further as a result of cuts to firefighters and stations?”