Fire crews took three times the region’s average to arrive at a devastating campervan fire in Peterhead, which almost completely destroyed a home.
Emergency services were called to the town’s Henderson Circle at around 12.50pm on Sunday following reports of a vehicle on fire.
It has now emerged full-time fire crews took 28 minutes to get to the scene amidst them having to leave an Easter Sunday fun day at Aden Country Park to respond to the incident.
The fire service has said the full-time crew was only tasked to respond when it became aware the retained firefighter crew in Peterhead was unavailable. It has declined to say why the retained crew was not able to respond.
Campervan blaze spread to house
Residents on the street reported hearing a “loud bang” and seeing “massive flames” as the fire engulfed the campervan and quickly spread to a nearby house.
Several appliances were deployed to the incident and the fire was extinguished at around 3.15pm – with crews remaining at the scene for another four hours.
However, a large portion of the house was destroyed with at least half the roof gone.
The fire service has confirmed the first appliance arrived at the scene at 1.21pm – 28 minutes after receiving the call.
According to a performance report for 2020-2021, this is three times the average response time in north Scotland, which was 8mins and 54secs during the period.
One crew was mobilised from a “community engagement event”, which is understood to have been the Easter fun day at Aden Country Park, along with two others from Maud and Ellon.
Area commander Chay Ewing, who is the local senior officer for Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray, said: “We were alerted at 12.53pm on Sunday, April 17, to reports of a van on fire at Henderson Circle in Peterhead.
“Our Peterhead station has one whole-time crew and a retained crew.
“As soon as we were made aware that the retained crew was unavailable, the whole-time crew was mobilised from a community safety engagement event and arrived at the scene at 1.21pm, followed by two retained appliances from Maud and Ellon.
“The fire affected a nearby residential property and firefighters extinguished the fire as of 3.15pm. Crews left the scene at 7.30pm.”
Response time ‘incredibly alarming’
Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid said the situation was “incredibly alarming” and stressed on the need of more resources to be invested in emergency services.
He added: “In a fire of this size, a matter of seconds could be the difference between life and death or a property burning down, so this response time is incredibly alarming.
“Our fire crews who attended the incident deserve huge praise for ensuring residents and neighbouring properties were safe.
“But this response time shows the devastating impact cuts have had on the service, resulting in fewer firefighters and scarcer resources for places across Banff and Buchan such as Peterhead.”
“It’s vital we ensure our emergency services across Aberdeenshire are given the resources they need and deserve which will shorten response times when major incidents like this occur.”
A spokesman for HM Fire Service Inspectorate said: “HM Fire Service Inspectorate is unable to comment on the specifics of this incident. Appliance availability is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
“The issues relating to the availability of appliances, particularly on-call crewed, are complex and are not restricted to Scotland.”
