Establishment 2000

Crew 1929    Firemaster W. Wilkie, Firemen J. Blackwood, A. Armstrong, J. Thomson, R. Wilkie, J. Myles, D. Oswald, G. Binnie, A. Buchan and A. Drysdale. Enginemen W. Brown, R Thomson.

Rothes had a call sign of 46 in Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, this was changed to R44, the new National Call Sign, when the Control at Mounthooly closed on 8/11/2016.

ROTHES’S NEW FIRE STATION 

<Photo> Rothes’s brand new fire station – and the men who man it. Top – Councillor G. Roberts, chairman of the North Eastern Area Fire Board, inspects the firemen after he had declared open the new premises on Thursday. Bottom – The attractive building which cost over £10,000 to build [“N.S.” Photos]
The latest addition to the essential services of the Speyside burgh of Rothes – a resplendent new fire station – was officially opened on Thursday afternoon.
With the modern, stone built £10,000 station goes a £6000 tender.
The station, the fourteenth to be built in as many years by the North Eastern Area Fire Board, was opened by the Board’s chairman, Councillor George Roberts, Aberdeen.
Introducing Councillor Roberts, Provost J. Dorrat, said that by providing the station the Board had met one of the greatest needs of the town.
In declaring the building open, Councillor Roberts recalled that when the Board was constituted the Rothes station had been one of the worst in the entire area.

No Longer Handicapped

The firemen had been handicapped by lack of suitable accommodation and other problems and it sometimes took them a quarter of an hour to get on the job. Now with the new premises, which he was pleased to open, they could be under way in less than a minute.
It was vitally necessary that full fire coverage should be provided in the area, Rothes was the fourteenth station to be opened in as many years by the Board and there were others to follow.
Lord Cawdor, convener of Moray and Nairn Joint County Council, who proposed a comprehensive vote of thanks, congratulated the burgh on it’s new possession. The firemen, he added, deserved a pat on the back for the efficient manner in which they had performed their duties for so long.
After the opening the crew were inspected by Councillor Roberts and demonstrated the new equipment.
The new station has a bay, office, store and recreation room.
(The Northern Scot and Moray & Nairn Express, Saturday, October 28, 1961. Page 5)

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