VATERSAY

Jan 1993 - March 1994   Vatersay ceased to be a unit due to an amalgamation with Castlebay,  personnel from this unit are now "on the run" with breathing apparatus sets.

Vatersay Fire Unit, Outer Hebrides

Information supplied by Donald Duncan (DD) Campbell, Vatersay

This unit was formed in the 1970's, probably at the time of the new Regional Councils in Scotland. A few years previously there had been a  house fire on the Island where two children had lost their lives.
The unit was equipped with a portable pump and hoses, although the mains water supply in the village was sometimes found to be inadequate to guarantee a supply to the pump. Equipment was kept in a shed in the village, located where the Council Houses now stand. DD told me that he was nominally in charge of the unit. With the completion of the causeway to Barra in 1991 the unit was closed down, some of the members transferring to the Castlebay crew. The first shout for Castlebay to Vatersay across the causeway was to an electrical fire in the Post Office Shop.
(Received 8/9/2014 from Chris Thornhill (Retired Ardfern Volunteer Leader). DD Campbell was 84 at the time.

MAIN INDEX                         1975 INDEX                         HIGHLAND & ISLANDS INDEX