MSPs seek assurances over retained fire service

Northern Isles MSPs Liam McArthur and Tavish Scott have written to the justice secretary demanding answers over claims that the part-time fire-fighters system is “on its knees” and that large parts of the country have been left with little or no emergency cover.

With over 40 per cent of Scotland’s fire-fighters made up of retained staff – professional firefighters who have other jobs but respond to emergency calls, retained stations make up the majority of services in remote and rural areas, including the Northern Isles, and cover roughly 90 per cent of the Scottish landmass.

Mr McArthur said: “Locally retained fire-fighters play an essential role in delivering vital emergency cover throughout rural and island communities.  Scottish ministers should know this, yet we still continue to see the negative impacts of their efforts to make a single force work.”

“It is vital that the retained stations are properly staffed and supported so that that communities in Orkney can be confident that they have a service on which they can confidently rely when needed.”