News / Hillswick fire raises recruitment concerns
NEW concerns about a shortage of fire fighters in Shetland have been raised, after two fire engines took 40 minutes to reach a house fire in Shetland as the two nearest stations were undermanned.
On Wednesday afternoon crews from Lerwick and Scalloway had to drive 35 miles to attend the blaze at an unoccupied house in Hillswick, even though a fire station stands less than a mile away from the scene and another in Brae is only 16 miles away.
As a result, local MSP Tavish Scott is writing to the Scottish fire chief asking what they are doing to recruit more people to the service before a tragedy happens.
No one was inside the building at Everor and there were no injuries on Wednesday when two appliances took less than two hours to put out the fire, which only affected a three square metre part of the house interior, while three quarters of the property suffered smoke damage.
However the incident has highlighted growing concerns about the continued shortage of retained fire crews in rural Shetland.
Local senior officer for Shetland, Orkney and the western isles Billy Wilson said the Scalloway and Lerwick units were called as they were the nearest.
“On this occasion the nearest stations Hillswick and Brae were not available due to full time work commitments,” he said.
“The Brae appliance was available for much of the day, but not when the call came in about this particular incident.”
Numerous recruitment drives have taken place to encourage more people to join the fire service, but in the past year only one person has (unsuccessfully) applied to join Brae, while two applied for Hillswick, with one now part of the crew and the other attending a trainee course.
Tavish Scott said people depend on having a local fire service, and having fire engines travelling from central Shetland added both distance and danger to any incident.
“While thankfully in this case there was no danger to life, that might not be the case in the future and therefore there is a pressing need for the fire service to tackle this pressing need right across the islands.”
Wilson said the service was already working hard on recruitment with three campaigns between May and October last year, leaflet drops to all homes in Brae and Hillswick, road side banners, media coverage, engagement with community councils and local councillors to try and attract new recruits.
“The service has invested in stations and training facilities to try and attract people,” he said.
“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has also made a local training facility available to undertake initial training and reduce the need to travel away from Shetland.
“We have robust contingency arrangements in place and people can be reassured that we respond to every emergency.”
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