Almost a third of Fife’s watches were a firefighter short during June due to sickness absence, it has emerged.
Appliances that should have been manned by five-strong crews had only four members on 32% of full-time watches.
A “5+4 ridership” target is operated in the kingdom, requiring first appliances to have crews of five, supported by crews of four on second appliances in 75% of cases.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service group manager Bert Stewart insisted the staff shortage has now been addressed and the targets for fully-manned watches had been met in the preceding months.
He said the low percentage of fully-staffed watches that month was predominantly due to sickness absence.
He said: “It is expected that this low figure is an aberration that is unlikely to be repeated as station staffing issues are addressed.
“The SFRS has just completed a limited firefighter recruitment campaign and is planning to run a full campaign.”
He added: “On the occasions the service operates with a 4+4 ridership, additional fire appliances are mobilised appropriate to the emergency incident type to ensure the requisite resources are available for the maintenance of safe systems of work.”
Only six and seven per cent of watches were staff deficient in April and May.