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

Thurso had a call sign of C1 in The Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service, this was changed to S20, the new National Call Sign, when the Control at Inverness closed on 6/12/2016 and moved to Dundee.

NEW FIRE STATION 

The new fire station at Millbank Road, Thurso, is to be officially opened by Provost John Sinclair at 5-30 p.m. next Wednesday, September 22.
The Northern Area Fire Committee will meet in Thurso prior to the ceremony.
(The Caithness Courier, Wednesday, September 15, 1954. Page 3.)

NEW FIRE BRIGADE STATION
PROVOST TO PERFORM OPENING CEREMONY 

Provost John Sinclair who used to be convener of the Town Council’s Fire Committee in the days before Area Fire Committees, will open Thurso’s new fire station in Millbank Road at 5-30 p.m. today (Wednesday). Tain’s new fire station is to be opened tomorrow.
Both fire stations have been similarly designed on modern lines. They have offices, muster rooms, shower rooms and other accommodation.
The stations will be the second and third stations to be opened in the committee’s area since the war. The first one opened was at Stornoway.

MORE NEW STATIONS

Others are planned for Inverness, Fort William and Kyle, the biggest one being in the Highland capital.
An announcement is expected to be made soon on when work can start on the Inverness fire station.
(The Caithness Courier, Wednesday, September 22, 1954. Page 3.)

NEW FIRE STATION OPENED AT THURSO
PROVOST SINCLAIR GETS A FIREMAN’S AXE 

Provost John Sinclair was presented with a Fireman’s Axe after opening the new Fire Station at Millbank Road, Thurso, last Wednesday afternoon. But the Fire Service still owes Provost Sinclair a pair of shoes.
A war time blanket store in Thurso Town Hall caught fire in 1940. The local fire brigade, of which Provost Sinclair was convener, saved the hall.
“We had no uniforms,” recalled Provost Sinclair on Wednesday, “and I destroyed a pair of shoes that day.” Amid laughter, the Provost added “I’ve never been paid for them yet.”
It was then that Treasurer W. J. Mackay, Inverness, chairman of the Northern Area Fire Committee, stepped forward and presented Provost Sinclair with a fireman’s axe.
Treasurer Mackay, who presided at the opening ceremony, said that the fire services in the Northern Area had greatly improved during the past few years and added “You can have the utmost faith in your Fire Brigade in Thurso.”
Speaking as a former convener of the Town Council’s pre war Fire Committee, Provost Sinclair recalled the days when “the hand barrow on iron wheels had to be man handled to the scene of the fire.”
Round about 1937, the Council obtained a “Merryweather” pump and soon, afterwards they purchased a second hand car, which was adapted as a trailer.
Congratulating Section Leader John Robson and his crew, Provost Sinclair said that the Thurso Brigade, by their prompt and able service, could hold their own with any Brigade in the area.
The new Fire Station, which was built by Messrs J. and G. B. Mackay, Bettyhill, comprises an appliance room, store room, muster room, office and hose drying room. The toilet facilities include a spray bath.
The former fire station in Shore Street is to be cleared for building purposes.
(The Caithness Courier, Wednesday, September 29, 1954. Page 3.)

GET TO KNOW YOUR OWN FIRE BRIGADE
The Seven Men of Thurso 

There’s nothing like a good fire – so long as it’s in the grate. But when the dancing flames leap beyond the confines of the hearth we are apt to curse the prehistoric genius who struck two stones together and produced the first spark.
Fortunately, the men of the Fire Brigade spend a number of hours every week training themselves for the moment when a careless spark becomes a smouldering lick of flame, and when a crackling blaze, and finally a roaring inferno which consumes public and private property and life itself.
The seven members of Thurso Fire Brigade have an operational area extending 80 west of Thurso to Hope Lodge, 15 miles south Scarfskerry, and south to Oldhall on the Watten Road. It includes the town of Thurso, the villages of Halkirk and Castletown, and the host of small communities which make up this most northerly fire “beat” in Scotland.

THE SEVEN MEN

When your house goes on fire, it’s nice to know who’s coming to put out the flames. In case you are not already acquainted, the men whose praises were sung at last Wednesday’s Fire Station ceremony are Section Leader John Robson, Leading Fireman Tom Cook, and Firemen William J. Sinclair, James Gardiner, Alex Sinclair, William Mackay and George Stout.
Although major conflagrations have been mercifully few and far between in their area, the Thurso Brigade have seen enough action to earn the description: “Experienced crew.”
While chimney fires constitute the majority of their calls, the wailing siren has brought them from workbench, bar and bed to fight fires more fierce in their intensity, more voracious in their elemental fury – and, sometimes more tragic in their consequence.
Less than six months ago, alarm bells rang in the firemen’s homes at 3-40 a.m. A disused stable in Lover’s Lane had caught fire and 75,000 combustible gallons of petrol and paraffin stored a few yards away was in danger of providing sleeping Thursonians with the rudest awakening since the “big wind” of January, 1952. Within seven minutes of the alarm being raised, the crew were pumping 500 gallon s of water a minute onto the blazing building that once housed “Wordle’s” horses. By 4-50 a.m., the fire was under control. The nearest petrol tank was blistered with the heat – but that was all.
A month earlier the Thurso firefighters made a 21 mile dash to help the Wick Brigade quell an outbreak which gutted a row of shops in Bridge Street. Heavy damage was caused, homes were threatened – but there was no loss of life.
But sometimes there is no “happy ending.” The fire at Dale Cottage, Westerdale, on October 28, 1952, was such an occasion. Called out at 4-50 in the morning, Section Leader (then Leading Fireman) Robson and his men raced through Halkirk in a vain bid to rescue the elderly occupants of the ill-fated cottage. The poignant entry in the Thurso Brigade’s “Occurrence Book” tells the sad story. It reads: “Tenants of cottage, Mr and Mrs William Davidson, fatally burned. Charred remains recovered from debris.”
The Thurso Fire Brigade, of course, do not confine themselves to their own area. They are quick to assist other Brigades, or to deal with outbreaks when the “local” firefighters are already out on a job. The next call is to Dunnet for a four hour fight with another heath fire.

THE LOG BOOK

The log book records a lorry on fire at the Bank of Scotland, a butcher’s van ablaze in Sinclair Street. Both reports end triumphantly: “Fire under control.”
But there is no concealing the chagrin with which Leading Fireman Barry recorded the outcome of a Sunday morning dash to Holborn Head quarries in November, 1944.
The Thurso Brigade’s occurrence book records the will o’ the wisp nature of their duties. Here we find them battling a heath fire at Warth Hill, three miles from John O’ Groats – for eight hours. A few days later, a chimney fire at Mina Villa was extinguished in 55 minutes. Before the week is out, a motor lorry loaded with waste paper catches fire at Scrabster Bridge.
On the principle “least said, easiest mended” ex-Dean of Guild Barry recorded: “False alarm, Home Guard burning rubbish.”
The bright red Austin tender, with its 30 foot extension ladder and 15 foot ladder, makes many a trip to nearby Scrabster Harbour to cope with fires aboard trawlers and other craft. Bunker fires require a special technique and, in extreme cases, breathing apparatus is brought along.
Sometimes instead of pumping water into vessels, the Brigade are called to pump water out of boats brought into harbour in a sinking condition.

SPECIAL SERVICES

Other “special services” include the filling of static water tanks at Hoy and, more recently, the provision of a suitable depth of water for Stan Bond’s “death dive” in Sir George’s Park during Gala Week.
Within the next four weeks, a new £2,000 Bedford tender is to be delivered to the new Fire Station in Millbank Road. It will be fitted with a “first aid” hose pipe pumping from a portable 150 gallon tank. By bringing water with them, the firemen will be able to deal with small fires all the more quickly. In the case larger fires, the 150 gallons will provide speedy “first aid” while the major equipment is being set up.
Some day you might be in need of the Fire Brigade. This is what you should do. Run – not walk – to the nearest telephone. You do not have to pay for an emergency call. When the operator asks for your number, state: “Fire.” The telephonist immediately operates the remote control switch which sets off the alarm bells in the firemen’s homes, and – if during the normal “waking” hours – the siren at the Riverside.

ON THE PHONE

The telephone operator will then ask for details. You should give the exact location of the fire. A brief description of the nature of the outbreak is useful to the Brigade, but the most important thing to remember is to give the correct address.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family and neighbours will be doing everything possible to salvage valuables and prevent the spread of the flames – and you can safely leave the rest to Thurso Fire Brigade.
(The Caithness Courier, Wednesday, September 29, 1954. Page 4.)

Caithness Craftsmen Complimented 

<PHOTO> Fire Station with two Bedford appliances jutting out the bays (Pump Escape and Water Tender).
Caithness contractors have done a most creditable job in the construction of a £6000 extension to the Thurso Station of the Northern Fire Brigade.
The extension houses the two fire engines, one of which the Thurso unit took delivery in March. In addition to the new part, the entire fire station has been redecorated and a steel frame asbestos roof fitted.
The mason work and steelwork were executed by the main contractors, Messrs Geddes Brothers, Mey.
Mr Angus Munro, 49 Princes Street, Thurso, carried out the joiner work, while the plumbing and electrical installations were the work of Mr William Jack, contractor, Scarfskerry.
Messrs Steven and Mulraine, Wick, performed the tiling and plastering, and the painters and decorators were Messrs Coghill and Youngson, Thurso.
At the invitation of the Northern Fire Area Joint Committee, the members of Thurso Town Council have visited the extension, the design and construction of which greatly impressed.
(Possibly newspaper 1966?, can’t remember.)