The Scottish Government has been blamed for cuts at Perth Fire Station that could put the area’s residents “in grave danger”.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) today (June 21) staged a protest outside Perth and Kinross Council’s headquarters in 2 High Street in the city centre.
They are against Scottish Fire Rescue Service’s (SFRS) proposal for the fire station in Perth to lose one fire engine for at least a year as part of nationwide cuts.
There are currently three fire appliances – two fire engines (pumping appliances) and one aerial rescue pump (height vehicle) – operating out of the headquarters off Long Causeway.
But SFRS says that from September the sole height vehicle, which can also be operated as a pumping appliance with minimum four crew, will be solely used as a height vehicle and crewed by just two.
The demonstration coincided with the council’s housing and social wellbeing committee discussing Councillor Brian Leishman’s motion for PKC to add its weight to the protest.
Mr Leishman said the public will be “in grave danger” if the cuts go through.
Finger pointed at Holyrood
SFRS says the move is necessary as it seeks to find £36.5 million in savings in four years to meet budget targets.
Its announcement of the temporary withdrawal of appliances at 10 stations across Scotland – including four in Fife, the one in Perth and one in Dundee – has caused a furious outcry.
Some of the councillors in Wednesday’s meeting felt the finger should be pointed at Holyrood rather than SFRS.
Councilor Peter Barrett (Liberal Democrat) said: “At the heart of these changes is the Scottish Government’s budget and gross financial mismanagement.
“While we can express solidarity for the firefighters and support for their campaign in this chamber, that campaign needs to be taken to Holyrood.
“People in Perth and Kinross are rightly concerned about what the loss of a fire appliance will mean, particularly for response times in remote parts of our area.
“The Scottish Government needs to face up to the fact the fire service is being forced to make these decisions because of the restrictions placed on their budget.”
‘We live in the highest-taxed part of the UK’
Blairgowrie and Glens ward member, Councillor Bob Brawn (Conservative), said: “There will be potentially serious consequences, not just for Perth, but for other towns.
“Blairgowrie, our ward, is a retained station and may have to rely on support in a major incident.
“The situation is not the fault of the fire service – they have a budget shortfall of £36.5m – but of the Scottish Government, who will tell us they commit millions.
“But no matter how many millions they have it is not enough.
“We live in the highest-taxed part of the UK and the government that has received record levels of funding from London.
“But they seem unable to support our emergency services.”
Communities ‘will be less safe’
Councillor Leishman (Labour) set up a petition calling for a u-turn, which has received 695 signatures.
He said: “The public will have to wait longer for firefighters to arrive on scene, crews will have fewer firefighters on shift – and communities will ultimately be less safe.
“Ultimately it will take action from the Scottish Government to overturn the proposal.
“But if we as a council don’t make efforts to open dialogue with SFRS decision makers, and passionately make the case for not reducing our fire service, then frankly we are not doing the job we were elected to do – to fight for our residents interests and that of all our communities.”
The committee agreed to hold a meeting with the SFRS.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Operational decisions on the allocation of resources are a matter for the SFRS board and chief officer.
“These changes are temporary and are prioritised in a manner that minimises community risk.
“It is right that SFRS continues to review its operations to ensure it is effective and delivering value for money.
“Decisions on how SFRS spends its budget is a matter for the SFRS Board and we have continued our commitment to support service delivery and reform with an increase of £14.4m in budget cover for SFRS in 2023-24.”
