Tayside Fire and Rescue has hit back at claims made by a union chief that it “massaged” figures relating to Balmossie Fire Station evening callouts.
Over 250 firefighters, supporters and politicians marched through Broughty Ferry and held a rally on Saturday to oppose the proposals.
Also, 5102 people have signed petitions campaigning against the controversial Towards a Safer Tayside consultation document.
The plans seek to downgrade overnight fire cover at the station, which sits on the border between Broughty Ferry and Monifieth, in favour of a fulltime dayshift in Forfar.
The proposals will be debated at the Tayside Fire and Rescue Board meeting next Monday.
Residents angered by the second proposal in a year marched behind the Mains Of Fintry pipe band, following the Fire Brigades Union’s banner along the seafront and up Brook Street to a rally in St Aidan’s Hall where they were addressed by local politicians and members of the FBU.
During the speeches, campaigner and exfirefighter Eddie Thomson claimed they had “exposed the hierarchy of Tayside Fire and Rescue for the misinformation given out to the press, on the statistics of overnight callouts.”
The proposal for Balmossie is part of a paper of 56 action points.
It aims to make best use of resources by sharing them fairly across Tayside.
If passed, it would free 14,000 hours of firefighter productivity.
During a rally in Broughty Ferry on Saturday to oppose the removal of fulltime overnight cover at the station, Fire Brigade Union Tayside secretary Ron Costello told the assembly that figures presented to Dundee City Council by the Fire Board did not match up.
He said, “The brigade are massaging the figures. The amount of times Balmossie goes to Carnoustie wasn’t given in figures to the council.
“They are lying. They are trying to pull the wool over councillors’ eyes.”
Alasdair Hay, deputy chief fire officer at Tayside Fire and Rescue, defended the figures as a true and clear representation of the number of incidents in an individual fire station’s area.
“The first thing I would say is I’m disappointed in the comments made by Mr Costello,” he said.
“As far as we’re concerned, the figures are entirely accurate.
“They report on how many incidents occurred in the Balmossie station area and the Carnoustie station area.
“These are the total number-and that’s exactly how many incidents we attended.”
Mr Hay denied any chance of figures being misunderstood and said they were presented clearly.
“All of the fire stations in Tayside support each other,” he went on.
“For example, if we had an incident in Blackness Road, it’s likely an appliance would come from Macalpine Road.
“This is not something that’s unusual. Tayside Fire and Rescue Board have put out two public consultations.
“These have given people the opportunity to have their say and the march at the weekend was part of this process.
“It will now be up to the board to decide how to proceed when they meet next Monday in Perth.