Inside the Johnstone Control Room: The heart of Scotland’s fire response
After wildfires raged across Scotland, emergency operators at Johnstone Control Room answered hundreds of calls every day
After Scotland faced one of its most intense fire seasons, staff in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have told Greatest Hits Radio they worked around the clock to tackle multiple wildfires across the country.
From raging blazes in the Highlands and Dumfries and Galloway to devastating recycling centre fires in Kilwinning and Cumbernauld, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has been stretched to its limits.
Behind every call-out, there is a team of unsung heroes working tirelessly at the Johnstone Control Room – the nerve centre for emergency operations in the west of Scotland.
Located just outside Glasgow, the Johnstone Control Room is where every 999 fire call in the region lands.
In the past week alone, operators have fielded 2776 calls for a total of 1348 incidents.
718 of those were small-scale grass fires, and six were large scale grass fires.
Busiest week of 2025
Nicola Morrow, Station Commander, has exclusively told Greatest Hits Radio the past week has been the busiest of the year so far.
She said: "Call volume has definitely increased this week.
"This week has been particularly challenging, it is difficult - but rewarding.
"You get quite an adrenaline rush when you're on this side of the phones. When we're busy, that's when we're at our best.
"But you do need to have a lot of resilience to do the job.
"People are extremely emotional, and to be able to keep composed, calm, and calm down the callers - it gives you a sense of achievement and satisfaction.
"It gives you a real sense of pride to help people who could be having the worst day of their life.
'More than a call centre'
Operators are seated at rows of computers, tracking fire locations, weather conditions, and emergency services' movements in real-time.
Phones ring incessantly as they deal with everything from wildfire reports to domestic fires, gas leaks, and road traffic accidents.
If the control room gets an influx of calls - a siren sounds and all staff on breaks run back to their seats to help.
Each operator is responsible for managing several calls at once, prioritising emergency responses, and dispatching crews to the scenes.
Nicola added the centre is "much more than a call centre".
She said: "We're not answering the phone and letting the caller go.
"We're not leaving it on a system for someone else to look at.
"We manage that incident from start to finish.
"If you take that call - you're then looking at resources and mobilising our operational colleagues."
The Johnstone Control Room may be the unseen heart of Scotland’s fire response, but it’s the calm, focused operators inside who ensure that, in times of crisis, no call goes unanswered.
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