Alarm bells ring over future of fire station in Hawick as review recommends move to day shift system
Concerns are being raised over the future of the fire service in Hawick.
It comes as a review is announced over the staffing of the town's station.
A proposal's emerged which could see it switch from being crewed round-the-clock to a day shift system - with some staff potentially being transferred elsewhere.
Local councillor Stuart Marshall is branding the move "outrageous".
He told Greatest Hits Radio: "I absolutely accept that the service has got to be efficient, but that shouldn't be at the detriment of public safety.
"And I really do think if, at the end of the day, this document was to be implented as it stands, we'll have a real public safety issue on our hands."
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The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service says the review aims to match its resources to demand.
It also needs to address the discovery of RAAC - a collapse-prone concrete - at the Hawick station.
The public will get a chance to have their say at a consultation due to be held over the summer.
Area Commander Marc Pincombe is SFRS Local Senior Officer for Midlothian, East Lothian and Scottish Borders. He said: "We have now concluded an options appraisal and development process and a number of change options have been recommended to progress to public consultation in the summer. This remains subject to final approval by the SFRS Board.
"Any permanent changes to our station footprint or how we deliver our services will only come after we have sought views from the public and a final decision has been made by the SFRS Board."
The fire service has stressed that there would not be a reduction in the overall number of staff.
The change being recommended could see Hawick change from a two pump Whole Time and On Call station to a two pump Day Shift Duty System (DSDS) - with nights covered by On Call firefighters, and support from a new "Nucleus crew" hub at Galashiels.
It states: "DSDS aligns the working time of employees with periods when we most need to maintain operational availability and deliver our supporting organisational requirements."
And, it adds: "It reduces the need for pre-arranged overtime and maintains operational cover during periods which are challenging for maintaining On Call availability."
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