SAT - Allover - Chris Morphet
Monday 2 December 2024
 2.9°C   N Fresh Breeze
Ocean Kinetics - The Engineering Experts
GR Direct - Winter Sale 2024

Emergency services / Fire station facilities ‘not helping’ recruitment situation

The fire station in Bressay.

THE LACK of facilities in some of Shetland’s fire stations is “not helping the situation” regarding recruitment of fire fighters, a meeting has heard.

The facilities at a few stations such as Bressay and Walls have come under fire in recent months, particularly from the chairman of Shetland’s community safety and resilience board councillor Allison Duncan.

Duncan was in attendance at the stations in question recently alongside representatives from the Fire Brigades Union.

One representative said Bressay was the “worst station I have seen in 20 years”.

Some of the concerns relate to the lack of toilet and shower facilities.

The matter was raised again at a meeting of the community safety and resilience board on Wednesday.

Shetland West councillor Liz Peterson asked whether the issue was affecting recruitment of fire fighters, adding that in her personal view “as a female that would put me off from applying”.

Area commander for the Scottish islands Scott Gibson said “it does not help the situation”.

“As a service we are eager to recruit all the demographics and recruit as much as we can into the stations,” he added.

Gibson also referred to the financial pressures facing the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as a whole.

He said there is an “insurmountable backlog” of capital works that has been inherited and trying to prioritise finances to improve these facilities is proving “nigh on impossible”.

However the meeting heard that there could be a new set-up in place locally in terms of firefighters decontaminating.

This would see firefighters at stations lacking showers being able to use facilities at more equipped ones such as Brae or Lerwick before returning.

The meeting also heard that for some fire stations there have been agreements with community venues such as halls to use facilities like showers, but this avenue has now been “exhausted”.

Become a member of Shetland News

Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider paying for membership to get additional features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.

 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 

Newsletters

Subscribe to a selection of different newsletters from Shetland News, varying from breaking news delivered on the minute, to a weekly round-up of the opinion posts. All delivered straight to your inbox.

Daily Briefing Newsletter Weekly Highlights Newsletter Opinion Newsletter Life in Shetland Newsletter

JavaScript Required

We're sorry, but Shetland News isn't fully functional without JavaScript enabled.
Head over to the help page for instructions on how to enable JavaScript on your browser.

Your Privacy

We use cookies on our site to improve your experience.
By using our service, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

Browser is out-of-date

Shetland News isn't fully functional with this version of .
Head over to the help page for instructions on updating your browser for more security, improved speed and the best overall experience on this site.

Interested in Notifications?

Get notifications from Shetland News for important and breaking news.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Have you considered becoming a member of Shetland News?

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please consider paying for membership and get the following features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.