One of Fife’s top firemen has said the region is struggling to recruit retained firefighters because young people would rather go to the pub than be on call to respond to emergencies.
Deputy chief fire officer Neil McFarlane said people’s preference for living near towns and cities and “enjoying life” had led to a 12% shortfall in part-time personnel.
“People want to have social interaction. They are moving away from rural communities and no longer want to be on call,” he said.
“We in the service need to change our approach. Maybe we can increase numbers to compensate so people have to commit less time. However, we would have to maintain competence and there would be a training commitment they would have to agree to undertake.”
Normally the service would expect a vacancy rate of up to 5%, but difficulties in finding retained staff in the East Neuk of Fife, in particular St Monans, has led the figure to soar.
Fife Fire and Rescue Service said retained staff played a “significant” role in covering emergency call-outs and said it was “imperative” this cover was sustained.
To lure more people to work at Fife’s eight retained stations, the service is changing its strategy for enlisting firefighters.
Mr McFarlane said by being more flexible and co-operating with employers the service was hoping to make the vacancies more attractive.
He said, “By talking to employers we can demonstrate what the employees will get out of the deployment skills which can be transferred to the workplace.
Of the 112 retained staff, fewer than 10 are women and Mr McFarlane said more female firefighters were needed.
“For women who have children who are at school, this would provide them with an opportunity,” he said.
Members of Fife Council’s police, fire and safety committee considered the service’s spring planning and performance report.
The report said, “Significant challenges in the operational environment need to be addressed in the coming year and corporate objectives will see the directorate undertake a comprehensive review of the retained duty system.”