SPONSORED FEATURE
Fire can devastate lives on so many levels – from the damage and destruction to properties, to the sometimes incalculable human costs.
Few understand this better than the specialist fire investigation teams who attend in the aftermath of serious incidents, seeking answers amid scenes the rest of us hope we never have to witness. Station manager Steven Bosworth is one of the officers overseeing this work for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Now 42, he joined the service in 1998, after working for a year in retail management following university, his desire to make a difference compelling him to apply for a job.
He recalled: “My dad had friends in the fire service and it was always something I was interested in. At school when they did the careers questionnaire the fire service came up and it stayed there in the back of my mind. Then, while I was working in London, my dad saw a newspaper advert, cut it out and sent it to me. That was my cue to apply.”
After going through training, Steven was initially based in East Lothian, and remembers clearly the first call-out that made him stop in his tracks.
“It was a road traffic collision near to East Lothian where I am from. A female driver was trapped in her vehicle and though, fortunately, she survived, the image of her covered in blood stuck with me.
“I’d never seen anyone badly injured before I joined the service.”
Sadly, however, incidents involving casualties are something Steven and his colleagues have learned to adapt to.
He said: “My first serious house fire was in a flat in Edinburgh around 15 years ago. I remember starting to do a perimeter check, and being told there was an adult male and female inside.
“The male was pulled out by the crew and unfortunately he had died. The female was pulled out badly burned but showing signs of life. I remember how surreal it all felt, but it was about keeping your mind on the job, evacuating the other flats and ensuring the situation was safe.
“Every time you see someone injured or worse, you think about how it affects their Greater prevention focus has seen fires decline by more than 40% over the last decade. Over the last 5 years: 93 people aged 60 and over died in house fires 61% of all fire fatalities were aged 60 and over 34% of casualties were over 60.
nnnfamilies and friends but we have to get on with what we’re trained to do.”
In 2016-17 there were 44 deaths from fires in Scotland, 31 of those a result of accidental fires at home.
In his role overseeing investigation teams across Scotland, Steven has become acutely aware of the major causes of fire – and how preventable they ultimately are.
“In the last five years, 61 per cent of the fire fatalities we’ve had involved people aged 60 or over. Every one of those had a