Fire chiefs last night defended the transfer of control rooms to Dundee – but admitted they were “rectifying” a number of systems and procedures following December’s controversial shutdowns in Inverness and Aberdeen.
The Press and Journal revealed at the weekend how a former senior Highland fire officer had learned of a catalogue of blunders in responses to emergency calls that were “potentially life threatening” and blamed on a lack of local knowledge.
The issues will be raised at a pre-arranged meeting today between Shetland MSP Tavish Scott and Scotland’s chief fire officer Alasdair Hay.
The Liberal Democrat politician has already called for an urgent review of the Scottish Government’s decision to centralise the control rooms in Dundee.
The fire service has insisted that the population “can rest assured – we continue to attend at every emergency”.
A spokeswoman, however, said last night that since the switch of the Inverness control room to Tayside “we have identified a number of systemic and procedural issues that we are now moving to rectify.”
After further consideration of the reported weaknesses in the brigade’s responses to various incidents across the north in the first 30 days of the new regime, she said: “We are satisfied that we attended at each incident with the correct resource.”
She added: “Local knowledge is derived not only from our operations control but from the highly experienced local crews based across the north.
“We combine the experience of those firefighters with an advanced mobilisation system and the very high level of professionalism of our operations control staff to respond in times of emergency.”
The service insists that by using the latest technology, it is “more efficient and more resilient.”
Hamish Fraser, who heads Highland Council’s “community and partnerships” committee overseeing the performance of the service, wants a “full report” into the competency of call-handling of the Dundee control room.
He said: “I’ve been made aware of several issues being raised relating to alleged mobilisation issues that are causing concern to the public.”
He urged people to relay any relevant information to both their local fire station manager and their local councillor.
Fellow independent Matthew Reiss, a former Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross area police commander, emphasised that the council’s ire was aimed at the Scottish Government and not fire service personnel who “do a fantastic job.”
