A career firefighter and former senior police chief have voiced grave concerns for Highlanders’ safety as the fire service switches its Inverness control room to Dundee.
Fire chiefs have insisted the move, on Tuesday, will “protect communities across the north.”
Critics, however, fear the vast geography, remoteness, challenging roads and diversity of accents across the region will pose significant challenges for anyone without local knowledge.
Just two of the 19 Inverness control room staff are moving to Dundee. Four will be redeployed and 13 have taken redundancy or early retirement.
Fraser Parr, who retired from the service six years ago after 30 years and is now a Labour councillor in Inverness, condemned the switch to Dundee as “risky SNP centralisation”.
He said: “Potentially, mistakes will be made. Hopefully, there’ll be no fatalities involved.
“There’s a strong possibility we’re at greater risk. Think of the diversity of all the dialects. I don’t envy the new control operators in their predicament.”
Fellow councillor Matthew Reiss, a former Caithness, Sutherland and East Ross area area commander with the police, shares the concern.
“I’ve always felt that having all three emergency services under one roof – in Inverness – would be the best model for the Highlands and Islands,” he said.
“I obviously hope the new control room does work but it’s another example of centralisation.”
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) insists people will “notice no difference in how their call is handled.”
The Dundee facility is part of a £10million investment that promises to “protect communities across the north through enhanced resilience and capability.”
A spokeswoman for the SFRS said: “We’re extremely disappointed. As a retired firefighter, councillor Parr will know local knowledge is derived not only from our operations control staff but from the highly experienced local crews based across the north.
“We combine the experience of those firefighters with a state-of-the-art mobilisation system and the very high level of professionalism of our operations control staff.”
She added: “Councillors Parr and Reiss are focussed on the well-worn claim of ‘centralisation’ but our priority will continue to be the safety of the people of Scotland, not politics.”
