Kara tells of her pride at 'rising star' nomination in fire service awards
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A firefighter who supports five Sutherland fire stations has spoken of her pride at receiving a "rising star" nomination in a national awards ceremony.
Kara Simpson (39), from Thurso, who joined the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) in 2013 as an on-call firefighter, was shortlisted for the Women in the Fire Service (WFS) Awards.
She took up full-time employment with SFRS in 2016 as a community safety advocate and in 2021 passed the promotion process to take on the role of on-call support watch commander for Sutherland.
Kara said: "I was very proud to receive notification that I had been nominated. Although I was not a winner in the end, I was one of four nominees represented from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the only nominee from Highland.
"It gives me a real sense of being appreciated by the senior managers who put me forward for recognition."
Kara, a mother of two, has lived in the Thurso area all her life and attended the town's high school.
In her watch commander role, she supports Helmsdale, Golspie, Dornoch, Lairg and Bonar Bridge community fire stations, as well as still running as an on-call firefighter in Thurso.
In her spare time, she is a youth volunteer instructor for a SFRS Youth Volunteer Scheme in Wick.
Kara added: "Working in the community to keep the public safe gives me a great feeling of satisfaction.
"I would say to anyone thinking about joining the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to do it now. I put it off for a long time and doubted myself. Now I have two roles with the service.
"The training, support and encouragement I have been given over the past nine years has been fantastic.”
The rising star award in the 2022 WFS Awards went to Rebecca Rowe of London Fire Brigade.
WFS chairperson Jules King said: “We hope this awards scheme has gone some way toward fulfilling a desire to celebrate each other, say thank you and put a smile on a colleague’s face. We all know the pressure on the sector’s professionals has been heightened during the pandemic, so a much-needed morale boost like this is so important.”
