Islanders get fire cover 

The remote Shetland Isle of Out Skerries (pop. 90) is to get its own volunteer fire unit – the 100^th in the Highlands and Islands Brigade area.
The Highlands and Islands Fire Board yesterday agreed to transfer non-mobile equipment from the neighbouring island of Whalsay, which is being provided with a fire engine for its population of about 800.
Firemaster Donald Grant has already recruited 10 men for a proposed volunteer force of 12 at Out Skerries.
The move follows a request from the community for fire cover, which was backed by Shetlands deputy divisional commander.
After the board meeting, Mr Grant revealed that Out Skerries would be equipped with a portable pump, 1000ft. of hose and ancillary equipment.
“We had already been considering transferring the Whalsay equipment to Out Skerries,” he said. “It is very remote and they have had nothing in the past.
“They’ve never had a serious fire but we considered that the circumstances justified the recommendation.”
A plea for more Government cash for the Highlands and Islands fire service is to be considered next week by a joint committee of Scottish Councillors and civil servants.
The fire board appealed to the Scottish Office to reassess the spending needs of their scattered area by taking into account the increased involvement of part-time personnel paid on a call-out basis.
The 32% increase in the past two years has cost the board an additional £200,000 a year.
Fire board members yesterday learned that their case was being referred to a joint committee set up by the Scottish Office and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.
But it was also pointed out that the Scottish Office had not commented on the basic problem – increased involvement of part-time firemen – and board officials urged more pressure on this.
The board agreed to await the outcome of the joint committee’s meeting before considering further action.
REGIONAL councillor John Campbell, Fort William, was re-elected chairman of the board after a close three-way fight.
Also nominated for the job which Mr Campbell had carried out for the past four years were Thurso’s ex-provost Morton Smith and Tain councillor Harry Miller.
Mr Smith was knocked out in the first ballot when he trailed by a single vote, and Mr Campbell emerged the winner by eleven votes to nine in the second round.
Western Isles councillor D. M. Mackinnon, Harris, a former vice-chairman of the Northern Police Board, was unanimously elected vice-chairman.
NORTH firemen dealt with more incidents in the first four months of 1986 than in January-April 1985.
The total this year is 1980 – 44 up on the same period in 1985.
Councillor Hugh Morrison, Uist, noted that the Western Isles had the highest amount of chimney fires in March and April, and suggested that there was a job for a sweep.
(The Press and Journal, Thursday, June 12, 1986. Page 3.)

Unit formed 27th May 1986. Closed 30/10/2012.

1997/98 New Auxiliary Station opened.

2000/2001 unit upgraded. Upgrades to units involves equipping them with Breathing Apparatus, Firefighting Uniforms, Road Traffic Accident Rescue Equipment, Pagers and Fire Engines appropriate to the needs of the local area.

2001/2002 Upgraded to BA Status.

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

December 2004 Sub Officer Alice Arthur was awarded the M.B.E.

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

31/8/2012        The Board agreed to close 4 fire stations within the Service area, namely Flotta, Foula, Outer Skerries and Boat of Garten and 6 Community Response Units (Evie, Mossbank, Achfary, Strathpeffer, Kyleakin and Waternish).

Skerries folk setting up fire service 

A REMOTE island community in Shetland is drawing up plans to start its own independent fire service after its retained station was closed by Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service (HIFRS).
Since Wednesday the islands of Out Skerries and Foula have to rely on smoke detectors to make people feel safe, as it would take two hours for fire fighters to be flown in by helicopter.
Former watch manager of the Skerries fire service, Alice Arthur, said this week the community had no choice but to protect itself.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott said the move was the clearest sign yet of how national services were abandoning people in remoter communities.
Mrs Arthur said the community felt hurt by the way they had been treated by the Inverness based HIFRS.
She disputed that the station had been closed because it failed to maintain enough fully trained volunteer personnel and said it all had been a cost saving and centralisation move.
She added: “Having no fire service here hopefully is only going to be temporary as we are trying to set up a private one with the same crew.
“This might be even better than being involved with the Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service who, I feel, have let us down tremendously.
“We are at the early stages. HIFRS is giving us the building and the truck and all the equipment we need, as we also need to continue to meet the plane every time it lands.
“That has now been organised, but to cover the rest of the islands we need to secure insurance cover, and funding.”
Mrs Scott said it was time for Shetland to control and shape its own fire and rescue service.
“Tragically we are turning back the clock to the 1800s. Instead of maintaining the professional training and expertise of local fire fighters backed by the national organisation, we are now depending on people attempting to save either a building or a life because it is their community and they would just do that.
“That is potentially dangerous for the individuals concerned but it is also an enormous step backwards in terms of the support that the outer islands should expect in the 21st century.
 “If national services turn their back on areas such as Shetland, it appears to be time that Shetland turns its back on Scotland.
“Maybe we should withhold some of our taxes so that we can construct the fire and rescue service that we want for our islands so that its citizens are as safe as they can be.”
A spokesman for HIFRS said on Friday the organisation had no knowledge of the plans by the Skerries community and could not comment.
HIFRS decided to close the stations in Skerries, Foula and Flotta, in Orkney, at the end of August, after Shetland board member Alastair Cooper failed to find a seconder for his motion to give islanders extra time to find and train more personnel.
At the time deputy chief fire officer Stewart Edgar said he was confident that risks of fire could be reduced by prevention and protection.
He added: “In support of that we also have a remote island isolating mobilising procedure where we will respond with crews from mainland via helicopter, via ferry, via launch or RNLI to make sure we can continue to serve these local communities.”
(Shetland News on line 2/11/2012)

 The population has dwindled due to lack of employment and as such there are too few permanent residents to raise a crew.

Skerries are now covered by Whalsay with a crew and equipment travelling by boat to the island. For larger emergencies I believe the crew and equipment could be transported by Coastguard helicopter.

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