Alec Kidd’s list of recent incidents that raised alarm bells.
- Thurso – Caithness – crew called to an address in Dundee that featured a street name including the word “Thurso”.
- Beauly crew called to report of a fire on a Dingwall industrial estate because fire control was allegedly unaware Dingwall had its own fire station. It turned out to be a false alarm.
- Lairg crew called to an incident in Skye, a two-hour journey over 100 miles away.
- Serious road accident at Tomatin attended by Aviemore, Grantown and Carrbridge crews. The Inverness crew would have been closer than both Aviemore and Grantown.
- An emergency tender not initially mobilised to a fatal road crash at Lochend but only when an attending appliance developed a fault.
- A fire crew from Bressay, Shetland, was called to an incident at Yell, 20-plus miles away, because it allegedly “looked closer on the map.” Mr Kidd says there are five closer fire stations.
- “No cover in place from Golspie to Dingwall for a whole day,” according to sources within the fire service.
- Reports of incidents involving calls in Lybster and Thurso are both being followed up by local councillors.