Urgent plea for more firefighters at station
One of Scotland’s most remote fire stations has made an urgent appeal for more recruits.
Just five paid volunteers currently work out of the Kinloch Rannoch Community Fire Station, overseen by crew commander James Black.
This means the team can only respond to around three call outs a year.
Residents living in the Rannoch area have to rely on crews from nearby areas such as Pitlochry and Aberfeldy to respond to emergencies when the Kinloch Rannoch team is out of action.
James said: “We are really struggling, we only have a limited group of people.
“We are down to five firefighters when we should have 12, so we are always trying to recruit as best we can.
“What normally happens is recruits need to live within five minutes of the station, but given we are a more remote, outlying station, we can recruit people who live within 20 minutes of the station.
“That means we are looking for people not just in the village, but also from Tummel Bridge and around the whole of Loch Rannoch.
“We want people to know this opportunity is available to them and we want to hear from them.
“On top of that, it is a pretty serious commitment - initial training is two weeks in Perth, and at the moment we train every Tuesday night for two hours in Kinloch Rannoch.
“And then we need to be prepared if we are out and our pager goes off to drop everything and go to the station.”
James, who works as a joiner when he is not at the fire station, said they are paid for the work they do, and they receive the same training as all other Scottish firefighters.
Once they are fully trained up, there is one fire appliance at the community fire station in Kinloch Rannoch, and they may even be called to incidents in towns such as Pitlochry and Aberfeldy.
James continued: “Four people need to be booked on at any time to have proper cover. But there needs to be four people with the right skills, because there is no use having four firefighters working and then no one to drive.
“But that is very difficult when there are only five of us - normally we would do up to 30 call outs a year, but at the moment we are only doing about three.
“People need to realise there is this need. They think because there is a fire engine at the station it is fine, but they don’t always know there is no one to sit in the back of it.”
Anyone over the age of 18 who lives or works within 20 minutes of Kinloch Rannoch Community Fire Station can apply, as long as they have a good level of fitness and good eyesight. Those interested are asked to contact James on james.black@firescotland.gov.uk