Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North’s new fire chief lays out vision of local service

Deputy Assistant Chief Officer (DACO) David Farries, head of service delivery for North of Scotland photographed in Inverness Fire Station. Picture by Sandy McCook.
Deputy Assistant Chief Officer (DACO) David Farries, head of service delivery for North of Scotland photographed in Inverness Fire Station. Picture by Sandy McCook.

The new fire chief for the north of Scotland has spoken of his vision of a national service which “serves locally”.

Deputy Assistant Chief Officer David Farries has spent the first month settling into his new role as the head of service delivery in the region, touring as many stations as he physically can to meet his “committed” staff.

And this is no mean feat because he is now responsible for 165 stations across the Highlands and Islands, Moray, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, Kinross and Angus.

Speaking to the Press and Journal for the first time since starting the new job, the married dad-of-three said: “I think I have got a real integral role to make sure we get all of the benefits of the national fire service to the north.

“My vision for the north is for it to be both national and local, a national service that serves locally. I want people to be comfortable to know that they are getting their lion’s share when it comes to national resources.”

Mr Farries, 41, signed up as a firefighter 20 years ago in an almost inevitable step – his dad is currently still in the service after half a century, while his maternal grandfather was also a firefighter.

He said: “It was the only job I was ever going to do. It came at me at all angles. I think as a young boy I didn’t think there was anything else you could do as a job.”

Starting off with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in his home city of Edinburgh, he gained a vast wealth of experience cutting his teeth in the Scottish capital, attending many major emergencies of all types – from serious road traffic accidents to many massive, and all too frequently tragic, fatal blazes.

He moved on up through the ranks, serving throughout the Lothians, and was involved in fire safety and fire investigations.

From there he went into operations planning, where he was involved in major events such as the Edinburgh Hogmanay Festival and rugby internationals.

The passionate fire chief also spent time in a training role and looking at incident command across the Scottish service before landing the top job in the north.

DACO Farries, a keen climber and rugby fan, said: “I am now covering a vast geographical area with 165 fire stations, with some in city locations and others in the remotest part of the country.

“I am spending my time going out and about visiting all our committed staff, making it my mission to be visible across the north area.

“The fire service is evolving and not only involves fighting fires and cutting people free from cars, but having more of a focus on prevention.

“The nature of incidents we attend is also changing, particularly in relation to an increase in flooding.”