A CALL for the North’s fire chief to be replaced was made during heated exchanges at today’s Highlands and Islands Fire Board.
It followed revelations by Chief Fire Officer Trevor Johnson that four fire stations have already been shut because of the perceived risk of safety but he could provide no details of three.
Mr Johnson, who heads up the troubled Highlands and Islands Fire Service, can suspend the activity of stations in remote and rural areas because of training standards and workforce numbers.
He told the board at its meeting in Inverness today that four stations had already been taken "off the run" because of concerns about the possible risks.
Mr Johnson said a station in Shetland had been suspended – but admitted he did not have the details of the other three bases and when they were shut.
It was a new twist to the unease about the service which must find up to £4 million to pay for extra firefighters and improve training.
Remote stations which receive few call-outs are expected to be under threat of closure.
Angry board members asked him during a stormy two-and-half-hour debate if 40 stations were under threat as had been reported in the media. But Mr Johnson said that no figure had been drawn up.
Retired firefighter and board member Fraser Parr called for Mr Johnson to be replaced as chief fire officer.
Councillor Parr (Inverness Ness-side) said the there was a "fundamental failure" of senior management to manage the service and suggested Jimmy Campbell, the chief fire officer of Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, should be brought in on secondment.
The board noted the service improvement report from Mr Johnson but will meet again on March 2 to consider the criteria against which to assess the future of stations.
Last year the Highland News exclusively revealed a series of shortcomings in fire service training which led to the situation coming to the attention of Scottish Government ministers.
We revealed how less than 10 per cent of the 1,400 HIFRS employees are properly trained in working at height training procedures, and that hundreds were likely to be breaking the strict working practice regulations every time they went on a "shout".
Some are not even qualified to climb a ladder to rescue a cat.
The head of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Advisory Unit, Steven Torrie, and a team of senior officers were called in to draw up an action plan to get HIFRS up to scratch.
