The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS; gd, Seirbheis Smàlaidh agus Teasairginn na h-Alba) is the national
fire and rescue service
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish conflagration, hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisd ...
of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It was formed by the merger of eight regional fire services in the country on 1 April 2013. It thus became the largest
fire brigade in the United Kingdom, surpassing the
London Fire Brigade
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...
.
Consolidation
After a
consultation
Consultation may refer to:
* Public consultation, a process by which the public's input on matters affecting them is sought
* Consultation (Texas), the 1835 Texas meeting of colonists on a proposed rebellion against the Republic of Mexico
* Consul ...
, the
Scottish Government confirmed on 8 September 2011 that a single fire and rescue service would be created in Scotland to replace the eight existing local authority fire and rescue services.
Following further consultation on the detailed operation of the service, the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill was published on 17 January 2012. After scrutiny and debate by the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
, the legislation was approved on 27 June 2012. The Bill duly received
royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
as the
Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012
The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament. This legislation merged the eight separate police forces and fire and rescue services in Scotland, plus several central agencies, into single agencies covering t ...
. This Act also created
Police Scotland
Police Scotland ( gd, Poileas Alba), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist service ...
in place of the previous eight regional police forces. The mergers were effective from 1 April 2013. Eight months after the consolidation, an internal report said the reorganisation had not negatively affected operational response.
The eight services that were merged are:
The number of control rooms handling 999 calls was also reduced from eight to three.
The consolidation of regional call centres has reportedly resulted in a number of dispatching errors. For example, a crew from
Beauly
Beauly ( ; ; gd, A' Mhanachainn) is a village in the Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the Scottish County of Inverness.
The land around Be ...
was sent to a blaze 10 miles away in
Dingwall
Dingwall ( sco, Dingwal, gd, Inbhir Pheofharain ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest cast ...
as the dispatcher was allegedly unaware Dingwall had its own fire station.
The service is headquartered in
Cambuslang
Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...
,
South Lanarkshire
gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas
, image_skyline =
, image_flag =
, image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg
, image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg
, blank_emblem_type = Council logo
, image_map ...
, on the south-eastern outskirts of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, incorporating a national training centre, opened in January 2013. There are a further three service delivery centres in the east, west and north of the country.
Structure
![Cambuslang4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Cambuslang4.jpg)
On 16 August 2012, the Scottish Government confirmed the first
chief fire officer
Chief fire officer (CFO), formerly often just chief officer, is the highest rank in the fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom. There are currently 50 chief fire officers serving in the United Kingdom in charge of the local authority fire ...
of the new service would be
Alasdair Hay
Alasdair George Hay, (born 24 December 1961) is a British firefighter. He was the first Chief Fire Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Early life
Hay was born on 24 December 1961 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Career
Hay was a firefigh ...
, then acting chief fire officer of
Tayside Fire and Rescue Service
Tayside Fire and Rescue Service was, between 1975 and 2013, the statutory fire and rescue service for the area of Tayside in Scotland. It was amalgamated into the single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in 2013.
Geographical Area
Tayside Fir ...
, following an open recruitment exercise.
Pat Watters, former president of the
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the national association of Scottish councils and acts as an employers' association for its 32 member authorities.
History
Formed in 1975, COSLA exists to promote and protect the intere ...
, was also announced as chair of the service, an appointment to run for three years from September 2012.
Members of the SFRS Board appointed in October 2012 were Watters, Bob Benson, James Campbell, Kirsty Darwent, Marieke Dwarshuis, Michael Foxley, Robin Iffla, Bill McQueen, Sid Patten, Neil Pirie, Martin Togneri and Grant Thoms.
Chief officers
*2013–2019 :
Alasdair Hay
Alasdair George Hay, (born 24 December 1961) is a British firefighter. He was the first Chief Fire Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Early life
Hay was born on 24 December 1961 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Career
Hay was a firefigh ...
*2019–2022 :
Martin Blunden
*2022-present :
Ross Haggart
Operations
![JMH 5247 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/JMH_5247_2.jpg)
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service attended 25,002 fires in 2014/15. The service also delivers a preventative programme, with 65,343 free home fire safety visits conducted in 2015/16.
As well as fighting fires, the service attends tens of thousands of specialist services such as road traffic collisions, water rescues and flooding incidents. In 2014/15, it attended 10,740 non-fire incidents.
Water rescue
![Fair isle station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Fair_isle_station.jpg)
After the 2013 merger of SFRS and the abundance of rivers and lochs, it was decided a generalised and revised Water Rescue capability should be established. The result of this is a
Mercedes Sprinter van containing water rescue equipment, welfare facilities, and trailering a rigid permanently inflated boat for immediate deployment. Twenty of SFRS' stations have one of these dedicated Water Rescue Units.
The Water Rescue Units regularly respond to flooding, difficulty in water, and water-related rescue incidents.
The service is the primary emergency service for the rescue of persons from the
River Clyde
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
in Glasgow and works alongside other emergency services during flooding events to ensure the safety of communities and rescue people in difficulty, with specialist swift water rescue teams positioned on major waterways and areas of activity. Firefighters are routinely called out to water, flood and boat rescues. For example, during
Storm Frank
A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm) ...
in December 2015, SFRS received 350 flood-related calls in the space of six days.
Wildfires
In 2015, SFRS were called out to 78 wildfire incidents in total, with over half of those taking place in the north of Scotland.
Medical emergencies
In 2015, a national trial was launched, in partnership with the
Scottish Ambulance Service
The Scottish Ambulance Service ( gd, Seirbheis Ambaileans na h-Alba) is part of NHS Scotland, which serves all of Scotland's population. The Scottish Ambulance Service is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Health ...
, which has seen firefighters at certain stations receive enhanced CPR training aimed at increasing survival rates for people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
In 2007,
Grampian Fire & Rescue Service in partnership with the
Scottish Ambulance Service
The Scottish Ambulance Service ( gd, Seirbheis Ambaileans na h-Alba) is part of NHS Scotland, which serves all of Scotland's population. The Scottish Ambulance Service is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Health ...
launched two Community First Responder Vehicles at
Braemar
Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee sitting at an elevation of .
The Gaelic ''Bràigh Mhàrr'' prop ...
and Maud fire stations, firefighters at these specific stations trained at First Responder levels can be pagered by the North SDA on request of the
Scottish Ambulance Service
The Scottish Ambulance Service ( gd, Seirbheis Ambaileans na h-Alba) is part of NHS Scotland, which serves all of Scotland's population. The Scottish Ambulance Service is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Health ...
.
Line rescue
Line or rope rescue is a type of technical rescue involving the use of ropes, harness, anchoring and hauling devices to assist rescues at height or below ground level at urban and structural locations. While many crews are trained to a safe working at height (SWAH) standard, line rescue crews are trained to a more advanced capacity to deal with more complex technical rescues at the likes of open structures, utilising horizontal and vertical stretcher lowering and raising.
Four stations contain these Line Rescue Units (LRU), strategically placed across the country in Altens (Aberdeen), Lochgelly, Tollcross (Edinburgh), and East Kilbride.
Fire stations
Currently the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service operate 356 fire stations throughout Scotland. Scotland's fire stations are crewed in six different ways:
*Wholetime (WT): A station with full-time
firefighter
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
s crewing twenty-fours a day.
*Wholetime/Retained Duty System (WT/RDS): As above but with
retained firefighter
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to em ...
s providing back-up when required.
*Wholetime/Day-Crewed (WT/DC): Livingston fire station operates with wholetime firefighters crewing the first appliance, and day-shift firefighters crewing the second appliance, and who will then respond via pager at night if required.
*Retained Duty System (RDS): Crewing on an 'on-call' basis. These are predominantly located in some of the more rural areas.
*Volunteer (VOL): as above but firefighters receive no payment for their work.
*Community Response Unit (CRU): a volunteer unit with a small LDV appliance specifically suited to their particular area. Found in the Highlands.
Northern Service Delivery Area
The Northern Service Delivery Area incorporates all of the fire stations of the former fire & rescue services of Grampian (GFRS), Highlands & Islands (H&IFRS) and Tayside (TFRS). It has 1.2million residents and operates 164 fire stations. The Northern Service Delivery Area headquarters is located at Dyce fire station on the outskirts of the city of Aberdeen. For ease of operations and multi-agency interaction, the Service Delivery Area is further sub-divided into smaller Local Service Areas structured in line with local councils; they are:
* Perth & Kinross, Angus and Dundee
* Aberdeen City
* Aberdeenshire and Moray
* Highland (East)
* Highland (West)
* Western Isles, Orkney Isles and Shetland Isles
East Service Delivery Area
The East Service Delivery Area incorporates fire stations of the former Central Scotland Fire & Rescue Service (CSFRS), Fife Fire & Rescue Service (FFRS) and Lothian & Borders Fire & Rescue Service (L&BFRS). It has 1.6million residents and operates 65 fire stations. The East Delivery Service Area Headquarters are located at Newbridge, to the west of Edinburgh. The facilities at Newbridge also house the workshops and Asset Resource Centre. In 2020, a new state of the art training facility was opened at Newbridge, which replaced the former one at Thornton, in Fife.
For ease of operations and multi-agency interaction, the Service Delivery Area is further sub-divided into smaller Local Service Areas structured in line with local councils; they are:
* Midlothian, East Lothian and Scottish Borders
* Edinburgh City
* Falkirk and West Lothian
* Stirling & Clackmannanshire
* Fife
Western Service Delivery Area
The Western Service Delivery Area incorporates all the fire stations of both the former Dumfries & Galloway Fire and Rescue Service (D&GFRS) and Strathclyde Fire & Rescue (SFR). It has 2.4million residents and operates 127 fire stations. The Western Service Delivery Area headquarters is located at Hamilton Fire Station to the east of Glasgow. For ease of operations and multi-agency interaction, the Service Delivery Area is further sub-divided into smaller Local Service Areas structured in line with local councils; they are:
* City of Glasgow
* South Lanarkshire
* North Lanarkshire
* East Dumbartonshire, West Dumbartonshire and Argyll & Bute
* East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde
* East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire
* Dumfries & Galloway
National Training Centre
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service National Training Centre opened in January 2013. The facility in
Cambuslang
Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...
features a mock town with realistic motorways, railway tracks and buildings, including a multi-storey tenement structure.
See also
*
Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate for Scotland
His Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate (HMFSI) in Scotland operates as a body within, but independent of, the Scottish Government. The inspectorate exists to provide independent, risk based, and proportionate professional inspection of the Scot ...
*
Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland
Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland (MRCofS), now known as Scottish Mountain Rescue is the body which represents and coordinates mountain rescue teams in Scotland. It has 27 affiliated mountain rescue teams.
Scottish Mountain Rescue consists of ...
*
List of British firefighters killed in the line of duty
This article is a list of British firefighters killed in the line of duty since 1900. As such, it only lists those firefightersThe term ''firefighter'' is used as it is not gender-specific. Most deaths will have originally been reported as the ge ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2013 establishments in Scotland