Scottish Fire and Rescue Authorities (SFRAs)
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Authorities (SFRAs) are responsible for governing Scotland Fire and Rescue Services (SFRS). Each authority is represented by a Fire Board, constituted by elected members from the local authorities within the region. The Board provides governance and prescribes how their FRS achieves its primary functions as defined in the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005. The boards achieve this by:
- Establishing the Fire and Rescue Service's local strategic direction and aims, in conjunction with the Service's Senior Management Team.
- Ensuring accountability to the public for the Service's performance.
- ensuring that the Service is managed effectively, with probity and integrity.
Fire Boards work closely with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and in turn with the Scottish government to ensure that local and national plans and strategies link together.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Services
The functions of the Fire and Rescue Services as defined in the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire (Additional Function) Order 2005 which are:
These functions are carried out
There are eight Scottish Fire and Rescue Services, combined they have a total of 8,310 firefighters and control room staff
- Firefighters are divided into different duty systems: wholetime; retained and volunteer.
Wholetime personnel are full time employees, working a shift system usually made up of two day shifts; two night shifts and 4 days off (though other shift patterns do exist)
Retained personnel are part time employees who respond to pagers when required for duty. They also attend weekly training sessions (often called drill nights) at their local station. Retained firefighters must either live or work within the local fire station area in order to be able to quickly respond to calls
Volunteer firefighters are usually based in very remote rural areas - Scotland has a total of 388 fire stations or volunteer units. The types of stations vary from city centre multi pump stations and rural one pump retained stations to remote rural volunteer units where the equipment may be kept in a small garage
- Types of fire appliances or engines also varies. The Scottish operational fleet is currently 596 vehicles. These range from the newest combined aerial rescue pumps (ARPs) and traditional pumping appliances to specialised vehicles such as high volume pumps and heavy rescue equipment
Scottish Government / Fire and Rescue Services Division / Resilience Division
The Government's Fire and Rescue Service and Resilience Divisions provide practical support to the frontline agencies that deliver Fire and Rescue Services and emergency planning and response throughout Scotland.
It aims to help and equip front line agencies to prepare for, and (where necessary) respond, to all types of emergencies ranging from house fires to major disasters.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Advisory Unit
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Advisory Unit (SFRAU) was set up in February 2008 to replace the Fire Service Inspectorate. The change was part of the Scottish Government reform of external scrutiny arrangements of public bodies, to remove duplication of audit processes while ensuring that independent professional advice continues to be available to Government and those running Scotland's eight Fire and Rescue Services.
The Head of the Advisory Unit provides independant advice to Ministers and Scottish Government officials on fire and rescue related matters and on the operational preparedness of the Fire and Rescue Service within Scotland.
The role of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Advisory Unit includes:
- Advising Scottish Ministers, the Scottish Government Fire and Rescue Service and Resilience Divisions and other government departments, Fire and Rescue Authorities/Joint Fire and Rescue Boards and Fire and Rescue Services on professional and technical matters.
- Providing professional support to Chief Fire Officers and, where necessary, challenging them on professional issues relating to the provision and operation of their Fire and Rescue Service.
- Helping the Fire and Rescue Services in Scotland assess their operational preparedness and take an overview on the application of Integrated Risk Management Planning (IRMP).
- Keeping under review the way in which Scottish Fire and Rescue Services are implementing the Civil Contingencies Act in partnership with other agencies.
- Developing technical guidance and good practice in respect of Fire and Rescue Service functions such as operational planning, training, human resources and fire safety activities. This function is carried out through the auspices of the Scottish Operational Guidance Board.
The Head of the Advisory Unit also holds the appointment of Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Authorities as specified in the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005. This is to enable the Chief Inspector to continue to carry out functions under that Act such as enforcing fire safety legislation in Crown premises and determining disputes between dutyholders and enforcing authorities regarding compliance with fire safety legislation (except in cases where the Chief Inspector is the enforcing authority).
Further Sources of Information:
- Getting a job in the fire and rescue service - the eight services are responsible for recruitment within their own area and do advertise periodically in local press. More information on recruitment can be found on the individual service websites
- Getting information about fire safety in the home - The Scottish national fire safety campaign Don't Give Fire a Home has its own website with lots of useful information. Community fire safety officers at local fire and rescue services also give advice; contact details are available on the Don't Give Fire a Home site
- Getting information about fire safety in non-domestic properties - The Scottish Government Firelaw website can provide you with lots of information to help you comply with your responsibilities.