Fire service confirms control room closure dates
Dates for the closure of fire brigade control rooms in the north of Scotland have been announced.
Dates for the closure of fire brigade control rooms in the north of Scotland have been announced.
The Aberdeen control room will shut on November 8 and the Inverness facility will cease taking calls on December 6, with calls for both areas then being answered in Dundee.
It is understood the closing control rooms will remain open, but not live, for 24 hours after their deadline dates so they can be reactivated if necessary.
The closures are part of a savings plan to cut control rooms across Scotland from eight to three, with facilities in Dumfries, Thornton in Fife and Maddiston in Falkirk already closed.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) previously estimated moving to a single call-handling system in the remaining operations centres in Edinburgh, Dundee and Johnstone would save £2.3 million and cost 60 jobs.
The service said staff will either move to Dundee in their current roles or be offered new positions in Inverness or Aberdeen.
Those transferring south will work alongside the existing Dundee staff in temporary accommodation while a new operations control room is built, due to open in March 2017.
Campaigners against the closures have raised fears that local knowledge and expertise will be lost, but SFRS chief officer Alasdair Hay stressed the public will experience no change to the service.
Staff will undergo training and pool their knowledge of the risks and geography of each area, while systems will be improved to capture local knowledge, landmarks and "locally known as" addresses.
Mr Hay visited staff in Aberdeen and Inverness on Tuesday to announce the changes.
He said: "This major investment will without doubt further enhance our protection across the north of Scotland.
"We look forward to combining our capabilities from across Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness into this fantastic facility in Dundee.
"It can deploy our specialist resources not only from across the north but from across the whole of Scotland, at times of significant emergency.
"I wanted to share this news myself with our operations control staff in Inverness and Aberdeen. I have made it clear to them that their role is critical to the very success of this important project.
"This announcement is the culmination of a very great deal of planning and preparation - and the public can rest assure that there will be no change to the outstanding service that we provide, and we will continue to attend every 999 call ahead of the launch of our new operations control at Dundee in March.
"It really is a landmark occasion and we hope that our communities take great comfort from a national service that keeps going from strength to ever greater strength."