Concerns raised over Highland rural fire service cover
- Published
Highland councillors have raised concerns about the availability of firefighters in their areas.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said, like the rest of the UK, it was facing recruitment challenges.
But Caithness and Sutherland councillors said it meant there were times when there was no fire cover for large parts of the region.
Michael Humphreys, SFRS senior officer for Highland, said actions were being taken to improve cover.
The issue was debated at a meeting of Highland Council's communities and places committee.
A SFRS report to the committee said between 1 April and 30 September, Caithness and Lochaber stations were available 56% of the time, with Skye and Lochalsh averaging 59%.
The figures were higher for other areas, including 72% fire crew availability in Easter Ross and 81% in Wester Ross.
But Caithness councillor Matthew Reiss said figures he had obtained through a freedom of information request suggested there were days when there was no fire cover at all in his area.
He said on 6 June there was no cover in a much wider area - from Gairloch to Durness in Sutherland, across to Caithness and down to Golspie on the east Sutherland coast.
Aird and Loch Ness councillor Chris Ballance said a group of retained firefighters in his area were unable to respond to an emergency because they could not meet all SFRS' requirements, including the need for a minimum of four firefighters to attend call-outs.
Mr Ballance said: "Cannich has three very dedicated officers training every week but unable to go out to any fires, which is deeply demoralising.
"The requirements of having to be within 10 minutes' call for 70 hours a week - when the station is in a community of a couple of hundred people at the end of a road of nothing but forest - is difficult."
Recruitment challenges
Mr Humphreys said efforts were being made to overcome challenges in rural areas, including through two trials.
The first allows some staff from fully-crewed stations to take up shifts in areas that were short-staffed.
A second trial in Tongue and Bettyhill on the north Sutherland coast sees crews at the two stations join forces at an agreed rendezvous point to give them enough crew to respond to emergencies.
He said the fire service hoped to extend this trial to other areas.
Mr Humphreys said: "There is no doubt that we experience challenges in recruiting firefighters right across Scotland and it is no different here in Highland.
"We continue to work to boost recruitment of on call firefighters and we have 78 personnel across the Highland area going through that process at the moment.
"The service will always maintain fire cover and ensure we continue to attend at every emergency. This can involve the strategic movement of appliances and individual personnel from other stations within the area if required."