The Government has been urged to guarantee that Scotland’s retained and volunteer fire services will not be affected by the formation of a single national fire and rescue service.
It has already been announced that Tayside’s top firefighter Alasdair Hay will head up the new national fire service.
Based at its Perth interim headquarters, the 50-year-old father-of-three, who lives in Dundee, has been tasked with leading the new organisation from April next year.
The current eight Scottish services will be amalgamated into one body under proposals the Government claims will save £1.7 billion over the next 15 years.
The final shape of Scotland’s fire service including its permanent base is still to be determined as work begins to put a national fire board in place.
There have been calls for Perth to become that headquarters, but Mid Scotland and Fife Conservative MSP Liz Smith believes it is more important that the country’s fire stations and firefighters are protected.
Scotland has 241 retained fire stations and 61 volunteer fire stations, largely based in rural areas.
Tayside Fire and Rescue spent £24.4 million on its running costs in 2010/11, employing 718 staff, including 379 whole-time and 247 retained firefighters.
As well as its headquarters in Dundee, staff are based in 24 fire stations throughout the area.
Of these, four are staffed by whole-time crews (Blackness Road, MacAlpine Road and Kingsway East in Dundee, and Perth), two through a combination of whole-time and retained crews (Balmossie and Arbroath), 15 by retained fire crews and three by volunteer crews.
It has 50 fire appliances, including two aerial rescue pumps, and a range of specialist units, such as water rescue and urban search and rescue.
Liz Smith said: ”Many rural communities in Scotland, including Perthshire and Kinross-shire, rely on retained and volunteer firefighters.
”The SNP Scottish Government claim that the establishment of the single national fire and rescue service will help to sustain local services.
”A key aspect of this must be the retention of Scotland’s retained and volunteer fire services to deliver the fire and rescue service which rural communities need.
”The loss of retained and volunteer stations would be unacceptable to rural communities and could ultimately put lives at risk.”
She added: ”I will be seeking an assurance from SNP ministers that the establishment of the single national fire and rescue service will not lead to these stations being closed.”