Achi news desk-
This comes as the SFRS launches its Strategic Service Review on Tuesday, which will hear from the public on areas where they believe the force can be improved.
Speaking at McDonald Road Fire Station in Edinburgh, Mr Stevens said the aim of the review is to “deliver an ambitious vision for an SFRS that provides a modern, sustainable community fire and rescue service for Scotland”.
He said: “The big part of that is making sure we address the emerging risk in Scotland and recognizing that the risk in Scotland has changed, and as a result SFRS needs to change to make sure we can address that risk” .
The issues faced by the SFRS include an aging estate, two thirds of which are over 30 years old.
Fourteen fire stations also have issues with Raac (reinforced autoclave aerated concrete) panels, and have been provided with temporary supports to reinforce the roof.
In addition, more than half of its 356 fire stations are deemed to be in poor or poor condition.
Mr Stevens said there are no changes planned at the moment, and no current plans to close any of the stations, but they will consider the responses to the review and go from there .
He said risks faced by fire crews had changed in recent years, citing increasing issues as a result of climate change, and said the SFRS had to change to deal with evolving risks in Scotland .
The fire chief said: “At the moment we are looking at everything across the organisation.
“Risk in Scotland has changed. Things like shipyards, coal mines and heavy industry are no longer there, some of our fire station footprint was placed around those types of risks.
“So risk has changed, and risks are emerging in terms of the effects and effects of climate change that we see much more easily at the moment, and climate change events are becoming much more serious and much more often and we just have to do that. look at last year in terms of things like storm Babet in north-east Scotland, and there have been some pretty significant wildfires in the north as well.
“This is really about changing the service to meet those risks, so basically it’s about having the right people in the right place at the right time”.
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In the last 20 years, the SFRS has reduced the number of house fires by more than 50% – and Mr Stevens says the force can reduce even more if it changes its approach.
He also wants crews to have better training and equipment to deal with risks more effectively.
Mr Stevens said: “While we welcome the increase in funding we have received from the Scottish Government this year, we believe we need £60 million a year to tackle our capital backlog “.
Community safety minister Siobhian Brown said: “The emergencies that the SFRS responds to have changed significantly over the years. Partly as a result of an emphasis on prevention, house fires in Scotland have almost halved in the last 20 years and the total number of fires has fallen by 56% in the same period.
“However, the overall number of incidents that SFRS attends has increased, with climate change presenting more challenges in terms of flood and wildfire risks.
“It is right, therefore, that the SFRS considers carefully how the service should adapt to the changing risks in order to ensure that it is as effective and efficient as possible and that firefighters are in the right place at the right time .
“I would encourage everyone to engage with SFRS and complete their online survey asking the public what they need from their fire service and where they think resources should be prioritised.
“Whatever changes will be considered by SFRS in the future, I have complete faith that the safety of our communities will remain steadfastly the service’s top priority.”
