The new single Scottish fire and rescue service was launched at an open day in Perth yesterday.
Representatives of the new combined service, which officially comes into being on Monday, were on hand to show members of the public the specialist skills that will now be available across the whole of the country.
Crews were involved in a river rescue exercise, demonstrating skills which could be used in flooding scenarios, as well as a rope rescue using the same skills utilised to rescue a black labrador called Murphy from Kinnoull Hill last week.
Dozens of children were also shown the consequences of pouring water on a burning chip pan.
Chief Officer for the new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Alasdair Hay, said the reforms are designed to protect the frontline services.
He said: “We want to give people better access to the specialists, such as water rescue and line rescue. It also gives them access to the national resources which is our ability to respond to major events perhaps severe weather or, let’s hope it never happens, but also terrorist events.
“Finally, but the most important thing, is what we intend to do is create a closer connection with communities right across Scotland, to make sure that we understand what their needs are and that we are there to provide the services that will make them as safe as they can possibly be.”
Mr Hay praised the firefighters who made the event a success.
He said; “Today’s been excellent. Credit goes to the firefighters who have put on the displays today, demonstrating the skills that they have. I think the message from the firefighters is that they are there to protect the people of Scotland.
“We wanted to put out a reassurance for people to make sure that they understand that, although we are changing from eight services which have provided fantastic services to communities across Scotland since 1975, we are still here.”