The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Fire service urged to scrap ‘8-minute rule’
Fears that limiting recruitment to immediate area is threatening future of rural stations
OLD-FASHIONED rules are restricting volunteer fire cover in the Highlands and islands, as an “eight minutes from home” rule is hampering the recruitment of enough staff to run much-needed emergency vehicles, it has been claimed.
Across the region the number of retained firefighters able to attend emergencies is falling – with some appliances only able to get out to one in 10 incidents, leaving critical shortages in the Highland area. Councillors in Lochaber have asked the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to “think again” and want them to consider other solutions to make sure people who want to volunteer to become a retained firefighter can sign up.
They want them to raise the eight minute rule to 15 minutes, and they want them to consider having smaller well-equipped vehicles stationed throughout the region to allow more people access to the service and the training it provides.
Rab Middlemiss, local senior officer for the Scottish Fire Rescue Service, said: “There is no doubt that recruitment can prove challenging and that is for a number of different reasons including the fact that people no longer work in their home towns. But we are looking towards future solutions that are more responsive and more flexible to the needs of our rural communities while maintaining community and firefighter safety, making it easier than ever to become a retained firefighter.”
An eight-minute travel rule on rural retained firefighters needs to be “brought up to date” to allow more men and women to join up.
The comments were made in light of fears one of the fire appliances in Lochaber would be removed from active service due to lack of staff.
For decades, recruitment has been restricted to volunteers who live within eight minutes of the base they want to join –in this case Kinlochleven.
But critics argue that
“They will just be happy you are there and helping them . . .”
in these days of long commutes and less people working near where they live, people living outside the eight-minute travel zone should be allowed to join the retained crew.
Councillors in Lochaber have challenged the fire service to think again.
A large proportion of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRA) call-outs in the Highlands are to road accidents. Of the 6,196 firefighters in Scotland, more than half are retained members of staff or volunteers. The majority of retained firefighters are in the Highland and Islands.
A council meeting in Lochaber last week heard potential firefighters are clamouring to join up but, because they live in Glencoe and not Kinlochleven, the few extra minutes to the appliance station rules them out.
The rule was called short-sighted and old fashione by Kinlochleven and Glencoe councillor Niall McLean, who is concerned there is a threat to his local retained station as a recent report shows availability for the second appliance at the unit is down to 12%. He said: “I doubt that the person who is caught up in an accident minds if you arrive five minutes later, they will just be happy that you are there and helping them. I think the fire service should consider applicants from outside the eight-minute area where there is a second appliance as it’s better having them later than not at all.”
Lochaber area chairman councillor Andrew Baxter said: “We need to think about rules that were set in the 1940s that are hampering the Fire Service in the rural Highlands.
“I have concerns about encouraging people to rush to the fire station along roads that are often tight and narrow. What we need is to perhaps have a second smaller response unit that is kept in another area. In this case that could mean one in Glencoe where people can get to the appliance within eight minutes. Otherwise the time needs to be increased.”
To sign up to become a retained firefighter visit www.firescotland.gov.uk/ work-with-us.