Fire chief helps dampen fears
Concerns over engine being off road
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Fire service bosses have been quizzed over Stirling’s second fire appliance being off the road for 240 hours in September.
At Stirling Council’s public safety committee on Thursday, councillors asked representatives of Scottish Fire and Rescue for reassurance that the safety of residents was not being put at risk. Earlier this month a whistleblower told the Observer Stirling Fire Station’s second appliance had been “off the run” no fewer than 50 times this year and unavailable for 240 hours since August 28. At the meeting, Scottish Fire and Rescue’s senior officer for Stirling and Clackmannanshire Roddie Keith said the 240 hours was down to being unable to crew from the personnel available. He added: “I understand why the figure might have raised some eyebrows. The reality is Stirling is a whole/full-time station with two appliances and has been for decades. “But at no time have we guaranteed there will be two appliances 24/7. We have resilience built in which means we can remove some appliances. “That can be for various reasons such as training, mechanical defects etc, so having one appliance unavailable in Stirling is not particularly unusual and doesn’t compromise public safety because we have Bridge of Allan, Doune, even Larbert and Alloa in close proximity.” Mr Keith said there were 26 occasions in September when the second appliance wasn’t available, mostly because of staffing.
Of these, there were 12 incidents which would have required attendance of two appliances in the Stirling area – 11 were for alarms, one was a motorway incident from which they were turned back.
On one occasion an appliance came from Bridge of Allan, one from Larbert and on the remaining occasions from Doune.
A fire at a children’s home in Spittal Street last week required back up from Doune and Bridge of Allan stations but was, added Mr Keith, “dealt with swiftly and it was business as usual”.
There have been recruitment challenges within the service nationally of late, but 105 new recruits are currently being trained, with another 100 in a “holding pool”.
It is expected numbers will be back on target by January, alleviating issues over manning the second appliance.
Mr Keith added: “We didn’t have an acute issue with absence in September. We are talking about relatively small numbers – a long term absence, maternity leave etc.
“This is not specific to Stirling. We can detach firefighters between stations. In September we could only detach from Bo’ness, Larbert, Falkirk and Stirling. The situation has improved dramatically as a result of identifying a problem in crewing. The detached duty policy has been amended nationally so we can now detach firefighters in and out within a maximum of 40 minutes which has brought in Dunfermline, Sighthill etc.
“We have new trainees coming in January and have identified staff in other departments to cover gaps. We have a training and development programme for others as well so things are being done to address this.”
Committee chair Councillor Maureen Bennison asked that a report be brought back in January detailing the number of hours the second appliance was off the run and also a paper on how recruitment was progressing.
Tory councillor Ross Oxburgh said later: “The fact there were 12 incidents that would have benefited from a second appliance from the Stirling station and that fire engines had to be brought in from elsewhere is worrying.
“It is imperative there are enough crew available to have both Stirling based appliances ready to use. I know there are recruitment programmes but until that has addressed the problem all methods should be utilised to ensure cover is available.”
Stirling MP Stephen Kerr, who raised the issue earlier in the year, added: “I’m glad the public safety committee ensured this issue being addressed and would like to thank Councillor Bennison for doing that.
“Many people have been in touch with me worried about this and I’d also acknowledge the coverage the Stirling Observer has provided that has helped ensure proper scrutiny.”