THE criteria likely to be used to judge whether under-threat Highland fire stations should remain open, have been questioned by a former firefighter.
It comes after it emerged senior officials’ running of the troubled Highlands and Islands Fire Service (HIFRS) was heavily criticised in a damning report.
Crunch talks are scheduled in Inverness on Friday, so the service and the region’s governing fire board can agree on the criteria for assessing whether stations should remain open.
The embattled organisation must find up to £4 million to pay for extra firefighters and improve training, with an estimated 40 stations in rural areas, which receive few call-outs, understood to be at risk of suspension.
It emerged last year that less than 10 per cent of its 1400 employees were properly trained in working at height training procedures and could breach regulations every time they went on a shout.
The service fears prosecution if staff are not judged to be trained properly and a seminar, which will also involve the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), is to be held.
The recommendations will then be debated by the board on 2nd March in Inverness.
However, Highland councillor and board member Fraser Parr, and the FBU, have criticised chief fire officer Trevor Johnson’s reference in a report that rural crews in “low risk” areas may not reach the desired standards because the stations receive so few 999 calls.
Councillor Parr, who served as a firefighter for 30 years, completely disagreed and claimed there were other examples of crews who did not regularly face many incidents but whose competence was not questioned.
“What about the airport fire service?,” he said. “They don’t train on crashed air planes or the fire services at sea, you rarely have a fire on a ship.”
FBU regional branch chairman Calum MacNeill said: “If you have a low incident call-out then it is all the more reason to train harder. There is no better example than the airport, there is always the potential for a fire to happen and no airport can operate without a fire service.”
Mr MacNeill said the morale of firefighters, particularly those serving rural communities, had taken a “battering” after the training concerns were made public.
“A lot of our members in rural stations have been very unsettled,” he said. “People assume they are not up to the job but that is not true, they are skilled people and have operated as a unit for some time and are able to respond to emergency calls.”
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson faced calls for him to be replaced at a stormy fire board meeting in Inverness last Friday.
Councillor Parr referred to a confidential document written by David Dalziel, of Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, who criticised the management’s running of the Highland service.
“The letter shocked me,” said Councillor Parr, who flagged up terms like “widespread organisational failure” and “serious concerns” in the analysis. Mr Dalziel wrote: “I have serious concerns that there are long standing, clear and present dangers to operational staff in HIFRS.”
Councillor Parr (Inverness Ness-side) was ordered to be quiet by angry board chairman Councillor Richard Durham who said it already had an appointed chief fire officer who was “sitting right beside him” and pointed out the document was not intended for public consumption.
“Maybe it should have been,” replied Councillor Parr.
Afterwards, Councillor Durham (Tain and Easter Ross) said no fire station would close without full consideration and public consultation by the board. “At this stage, there is no question of this,” he insisted.
However, Mr Johnson still has the power to suspend operational activity at stations deemed an ”unacceptable risk”.
