Fire and rescue service consultation

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is holding a public pre-consultation exercise titled 'Shaping Our Future Service: Your Say'. on the future of the service.

Dundee Liberal Democrats councillors have responded to the consultation making clear our view that any loss of fire stations and staffing across the city would be strongly resisted and we want to see the return of appliances removed from Dundee in 2023 part of temporary measures to help plug an £11 million budget gap.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service firefighters undertake vital work to keep people safe and deserve good work conditions and improved resources.

Residents can take part in the consultation on-line survey by going to www.firescotland.citizenspace.com/planning-and-performance/shaping-our-future-service-your-say

Fire safety and home fire safety visits

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has advised that there has been a concerning increase in the number of people who have been injured and have sadly died due to fires within the home. This has been the case in Dundee where there have been 2 fatal fires this year. Over the previous 3 years, there were not any fatal fires in Dundee.

The service has identified that the key common factors are people over 50 who smoke and have mobility issues or live alone or use medical oxygen.   Therefore the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is targeting its focus on people who meet these criteria in addition to its broader home fire safety visit checks. 

Further to this, you can access here a useful guide and self-assessment about fire safety in the home – this also advises how you can book a home fire safety visit as does the above poster.

COVID-19 home fire safety checklist

A useful checklist from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service :

Blackness Fire Station Open Day today #dundeewestend

Home safety event

Yesterday, I dropped in on the home safety event at Blackness Library, organised by Time2Give, the West End Timebank, with the assistance of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

This event gave residents the opportunity to discuss how to make their home safe, what to do in the event of a fire and prevent accidents in the home.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service provides home/fire safety visits including provision of smoke detectors and if you are interested in this free service, please give Susan Lander, Scottish Fire and Rescue's local community engagement officer, a call on 825295.

Campaigning to keep our Dundee Fire Control Room

Today, along with my colleague Alison McInnes, Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson and MSP for the North East, I toured the Dundee Fire Control Room.   Alison and I are campaigning for the retention of the Dundee Fire Control Room that has a vital role and must be retained.

I was hugely impressed with the professionalism and local knowledge of the control staff Alison and I spoke with.  

Alison is pictured below outside the control room and Macalpine Road Fire Station:

Alison said, "There is a compelling case for retaining fire control rooms in Dundee and Aberdeen.

"Fire control rooms should not be considered backroom assets alongside former HQ buildings.    They coordinate and mobilise front line operations with the benefit of a wealth, sometimes decades worth, of local knowledge.      That is why they cannot be sold off without impacting upon the ability of the fire service to respond swiftly to emergencies and without eroding the service provided to local communities.

"I am also concerned that a smaller network of control rooms will be less resilient and I hope that the Fire Board will heed these concerns and decide to keep the control room in Dundee open when it considers the matter again in January."

I was interviewed about this matter on Wave 102 News today.   You can hear the interview by clicking 'play' below: