Report to the People
The Fire Service of the Future
Few public services are more highly regarded than the Fire Service.
Those of us who have witnessed or been in a fire – whether in the home or in the workplace – probably have the awful experience etched on our minds. And we will never forget that, while we were trying to run away from the danger, the professional fire fighters were running towards it.
When we look back to those times, it reminds us how much the service has changed. Today’s Fire Service deals with road accidents, difficulties caused by snow or floods and a host of other non-fire related incidents. They have communications technology, training facilities and equipment the like of which their colleagues of yesteryear could not have dreamt.
And now, for the first time in over 50 years, this changing role is being recognised. The Scottish Executive has published its plans for "The Scottish Fire Service of the Future" and, last Wednesday, Parliament had its chance to debate them.
The proposals set out a number of good ideas. But one in particular caught my eye – the renewed emphasis on fire prevention through work with the community.
It might, I admitted to the Chamber, be a well-worn cliché, but prevention is always better than cure. Swapping your chip pan for a deep fat fryer or renewing the batteries in your smoke alarm are as – if not more – important than a fast response time to a house fire.
It is, therefore, proposed that fire prevention work is developed by fire services, local authorities, the police and others in community safety partnerships. The Fire Service, the plans say, should promote fire safety and open up fire stations to act as a community focal point.
Through their charity and school work, of course, the fire service here in Inverclyde is already leading the way in this. But we could go further. One idea, being advocated by the Strathclyde Fire Brigade Preservation Group, is that the old fire station in Greenock could become a combined Fire Brigade Museum and Community Fire Safety Centre. This could not only provide fire prevention education and a fun day out for children, it could also run practical initiatives for their parents, such as chip pan trade-in and discount smoke alarm schemes.
Such a project could be ideal for driving forward some of the Executive’s proposals and I am sure the Preservation Group will make this case as the plans are consulted on in the coming months.
I hope – and expect – that their views will be listened to.
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