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.

Trip down memory lane for Montrose fire heroes

The group at the station.
The group at the station.

Former Montrose firefighters have returned to the station for a trip down memory lane.

Bill Ruickbie, who was station officer from 1989 to 2001, was among those invited down to meet the present crew.

The retired firefighters were given a tour of the station and shown the equipment which is now being used by their successors.

Mr Ruickbie said: “When I first started, we used to respond to the siren which was set off when the fire call came in.

“It was later everyone was issued with a pager. The difference with the pager meant the turnout system improved and responses were better.

“From the person who makes the call, down to us, became only seconds instead of minutes.”

The Garrison Road station opened in 1955 and replaced the previous facility which has firefighters based at Southesk Street.

The change in perception of the service is clear to see from the remarks of Provost JC Cameron as he officially opened the £12,000 station, stating he fully appreciated that “some people condemn this building and regard it as a sheer waste of money”.

But during the few months before the station opened there had been a record number of calls to the fire brigade.

There have been significant advances within the fire station over the decades with the biggest change in the type of road traffic collision equipment used, with firefighters responding to an increasing number of accidents.

Mr Ruickbie said the equipment has improved dramatically and is “just state-of-the-art compared to how it used to be”.

He said: “The hydraulic rescue equipment is far superior which means people are released faster and more efficiently in road traffic collisions. Equipment in general is better and safer for a modern fire service.”

Mr Ruickbie spent more than three decades with Tayside Fire Brigade, latterly as town station officer.

Formerly a joiner/workshop foreman with local builders WW Pert and a housing inspector with Angus Council, Mr Ruickbie answered the call for young recruits in 1967.