2001                        New station being built.

 2002/2003              Completed Firemanship training. New station completed and occupied.

 Aug 2003               Fully operational with BA

 Station occupied October 2002, Officially Opened 27/9/2003.

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

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

Papa Westray had a call sign of C59 in The Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service, this was changed to V22, the new National Call Sign, when the Control at Inverness closed on 6/12/2016 and moved to Dundee.

HIGHLAND AND ISLANDS

FIRE BRIGADE

official opening of

PAPA WESTRAY

FIRE STATION

27^th September 2003

SUB OFFICER                      ROBERT McNAB

L/FF                                        JOHN RENDALL

F/F                                          ALISTAIR HOURSTON

F/F                                          DAVID RENDALL

F/F                                          FIONA McNAB

F/F                                          NICHOLAS CROCKER

F/F                                          HARTMUT WINDRICH

F/F                                          TIMOTHY DODMAN

F/F                                          STUART THOMPSON

ORDER OF CEREMONY

*11.15     Master of Ceremonies by – Assistant Divisional Officer D Clark

*11.25     Introduction by Firemaster – B Murray QFSM BA(HONS) MA MIFireE

*11.35     Speech by Fireboard Vice Convener – Councillor R Sclater

*11.45     Speech and official opening by – Rt Hon Jim Wallace QC MSP

*11.55     Dedication and prayers by – Reverend Ian MacDonald

*12.05     Station response by – Sub Officer Robert McNab

*12.15     Photographs

*12.30     Tour of station and facilities followed by refreshments

(The Official Opening Programme)

New fire station is unveiled on Papa

By Fiona Nichol

Islanders on Papa Westray were celebrating the opening of a new fire station this week.
The state-of-the-art £205,000 complex has just been completed and was opened by local MSP Jim Wallace along with 20 other specially invited guests at the weekend.
Firemaster Brian Murray and Councillor Bob Slater were among the visitors who went to the island for the special ceremony on Saturday.
For ten years Rob McNab and a nine strong team of dedicated volunteers have risked their lives to help put out fires across the island.
It hasn’t always been easy as they were working with two pumps which they loaded into a car and sped off to a blaze.
So the new hi-tech equipment, including breathing apparatus and specialist equipment for cutting people out of cars, is particularly welcome.
Rob said: “In the past people didn’t report accidents to us because they didn’t want to bother us and they would just deal with a fire themselves.
“We had two incidents in the past two weeks, one where a toaster went on fire and one where bed linen went on fire, which weren’t reported.
“The new equipment means that hopefully people will now phone us.”
Rob remembers how, before the volunteers were recruited by the Fire Brigade, locals were all issued with stirrup pumps by the council to put out their own fires.
He said: “Now we have all of this equipment which will certainly help us. The breathing apparatus will make a big difference to us even for comfort because of the fumes that come off most of the fires.”
MSP Jim Wallace paid tribute to the courage and commitment of firefighters, and especially the volunteers who serve the isles.
He said: “As members of the community, we tend to think of the fire service as a service which will be there should we ever need it, but we should not lose sight of the huge commitment made by the volunteers who give of their time and energy to serve in fire service units in Papay as well as in many other units across Orkney.
“It may well be that they won’t be called upon to act in a real emergency for a very long time, but they are still required to make a regular commitment to training.
“And, in the event of having to turn out to a fire or other rescue, we know they will respond showing both expertise and courage.
“For that, we must thank them and salute them.”
Earlier, Mr Wallace had emphasised the importance of fire safety and fire prevention.
He said: “As well as the service which we expect from our firefighters, we all have a role to play.
“Community fire safety and fire prevention are vitally important, if we are going to succeed in reducing the risk of fire.
“Such an approach must involve the whole community, starting with education on fire safety in our schools.
“And these themes will be taken forward when the Scottish Executive brings forward draft legislation for fire service reform later in the year.”
<PHOTO> Firemaster Brian Murray is pictured with Jim Wallace at the unveiling of Papa’s new fire station.
<PHOTO> The firefighting team on Papa Westray, from left, are Tim Dodman, Fiona McNab, Hartmut Windrich, David Rendall, sub officer Rob McNab, Stuart Thompson, Alistair Hourston, Nick Crocker and leading firefighter Bobby Rendall.
(The Orcadian, Thursday 2^nd October, 2003. Page 3.)

Islanders fired up by modernized station

Papay Fire Station was officially opened by Orkney MSP Jim Wallace on Saturday.
The purpose-built facility was completed a year ago, but it has taken until now for the local politicians and the firemaster of Highland and Islands Brigade, Brian Murray, to be able to visit the island at the same time.
Almost all of the islanders turned out for the big occasion.
The new fire station houses a specially converted minibus which carries 100 gallons of water. It is fitted out as a fire engine with extending ladders, a roof ladder, auxiliary pumps, and the latest safety gear such as breathing apparatus, and cutting equipment.
Sub Officer in charge of the fire volunteer team in Papay, Rab McNab, commented: “It’s like chalk and cheese. To think that we used to have just two small pumps which could be thrown into the back of a van and which were stored in the corner of a byre and now we’ve got this fully operational fire station complete with showers and a laundry. Now, when we are alerted to a fire by pager, we can get a teleprinter read-out of the location and details of the incident. We also have all the necessary safety equipment to help in a rescue situation and to protect our own officers. It’s a 100 per cent improvement.”
Also in attendance at the opening ceremony was Captain Bob Sclater of Orkney Islands Council who is vice-convener of the Highland & Islands Fire Board which runs fire services throughout the north of Scotland.
He spoke of the board’s commitment to providing up to date firefighting facilities from the biggest centres of population to the smallest. He added that a fire station on its own would not be any use without the dedicated team of firefighters who used it, and he paid tribute to the Papay volunteers for all their efforts.
Councillor Sclater remarked that, ideally, he hoped the facilities would never need to be used in a real emergency, but with the new facilities he felt Papay residents could “sleep peacefully in their beds at night.”
He indicated that in the longer term, the intention was to provide purpose-built fire tenders in each of the islands which would be used to cover the island airstrips and the civilian population, and this scheme would be done as a joint venture between Highland and Islands Fire Board and Orkney Islands Council.
<PHOTO> (of the station)
<PHOTO> OFFICIAL OPENING Firemaster Brian Murray, Councillor Bob Sclater, Sub Officer Rab McNab, Jim Wallace and the Rev Iain McDonald.
<PHOTO> READY FOR ACTION Firefighters Tim Dodman, Fiona McNab, Hartmut Windrich, David Rendall, Rab McNab, Stuart Thompson, Alistair Hourston, Nick Crocker, and Bobby Rendall.
(ORKNEY TODAY, Friday, October 3, 2003. Page 7.)

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