A senior UK Government minister has backed the fight to save a closure-threatened fire brigade control room.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has started an online petition in protest at the controversial proposal to shut the centre in Inverness.
It is facing the axe along with a control room in Aberdeen which was opened just five years ago.
Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes said last night she was “deeply concerned” about the plans and urged Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chief fire officer Alasdair Hay and Community Safety Minister Roseanna Cunningham to reconsider.
Critics of the proposals, which will be discussed by the national fire board in Aberdeen tomorrow, have warned lives will be put at risk if the centres are shut.
Brigade insiders have claimed that the control room in Johnstone, Renfrewshire would be retained and a new centre built in Dundee.
Ms McInnes said the “state-of-the-art” control room in Aberdeen only opened in 2008.
“This move would therefore not only be a backward step, it would be both irrational and potentially dangerous,” she added.
“Staff will be asked to make life and death decisions but, unlike at present, with little or no experience or knowledge of the local communities to which they are deploying services or the geography of the area.
“When responding to emergencies every minute counts and I am concerned that there is a very real risk that this will extend response times.”
Mr Alexander, who is MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said it was “vital” to keep the control and co-ordination of fire and rescue services as close to the communities they serve as possible.
“I will be seeking talks and doing everything I can to prevent this vital facility being lost to the Highlands,” he added.
Aberdeen Labour councillor Scott Carle, a former convener of the Grampian Fire and Rescue Joint Board, said he was “very concerned” about the plans” for safety reasons.