1997/98 Paging equipment installed.

May 2003 Planning permission applied for, for a new Auxiliary Fire Station & associated works, at the Industrial Estate, Lochcarron.

With the new brigade structure introduced in the summer of 2003 the 3 Divisions were re-organised into 2 Commands North and South, Lochcarron was put into North Command. Call signs remained the same.

On 1st April 2005 along with 61 other units Lochcarron was upgraded to a Retained Unit, drilling one night per week and receiving a retaining fee.

Lochcarron had a call sign of B45 in The Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service, this was changed to T35, the new National Call Sign, when the Control at Inverness closed on 6/12/2016 and moved to Dundee.

LOCHCARRON FIRE STATION

OPENING CEREMONY

1600 hours 13th May 2006

Chief Fire Officers Welcoming Address: 

Welcome to all our guests and friends at the opening of the newly built Fire Station at Lochcarron.
The Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service is determined to make our communities safer. Our firefighters do this through providing community safety advice and an emergency response service that is second to none. In recent years we have made increasing demands upon the firefighters of Lochcarron, expanding their role and asking them to learn new skills. They have met this challenge and today I am proud that we are able to provide them with a station that meets their professional, safety, dignity and welfare needs. I am confident it will be an important community resource for many years to come.
The Fire Board work hard to secure the necessary resources to fund the Service and I am pleased that our convenor Drew Macfarlane Slack MBE is here to open the station. Thank you everyone for attending and supporting our Service.
 
Chief Fire Officer Brian Murray.

DISTRICT OFFICER’S INTRODUCTION:
Station Officer Jim Cooper

CHIEF FIRE OFFICER’S ADDRESS:
Chief Fire Officer Brian Murray

OFFICER IN CHARGE’S ADDRESS:
Sub Officer Sandy Catto

OFFICIAL OPENING:
Mr Drew MacFarlane Slack MBE,
Fire Board Convener

STATION BLESSING:
Reverend Raymond Arnold

BUFFET for 1730 hours

At Rockvilla Hotel, Lochcarron

Tributes paid at opening of new Lochcarron Fire Station 

<PHOTO> Past and present members of the Lochcarron fire crew who have given dedicated service.
Tribute was paid to pioneering firefighters in Lochcarron at the weekend for work that has been recognised on a national stage.
The opening of the new Lochcarron Fire Station was carried out by Fire Board convener Drew MacFarlane Slack and attended by Chief Fire Officer, Brian Murray. Guests included two of the original fire crew when the unit was set up in 1948, Donnie and Jackie MacKenzie.
Mr Murray told the guests that the firefighters provided community advice and an emergency response that is second to none. There had been increasing demands on the Lochcarron unit as they extended their role, which required learning new skills.
Lochcarron had also pioneered their community role by ensuring smoke alarms were fitted in every property in the area.
It was a scheme that had not just been recognised nationally, but also internationally.
In recent years the unit has changed from volunteer to retained status.
This requires the crew to undertake tasks that would previously have required a unit from a distant location.
Drew MacFarlane Slack outlined changes made in recent times.
Health and Safety requirements had means significant changes the service which had required vast increase in funding.
The pioneering scheme ensuring fire alarms were fitted indicated the importance now being placed on prevention of fires When a fire did occur, he said, had to be considered that it was failure of prevention.
The next step might be to move to sprinklers in homes.
(Ross shire Journal, May 19, 2006.)

If you know of any mistakes in this or have any additional information please let me know.