Less than a week after the official opening the new fire engine was called into service to deal with a chimney fire on the Island.
A frequent problem due to peat being burned for fuel, the soot from which collects in the flue and catches fire if the chimney remains unswept.
This type of fire is easily extinguished by lowering a hose into the chimney stack and turning the water on, although as you can imagine, it leaves a bit of a mess in the room below.
(Isle of Jura Herald Summer 1996 Page 2)

In 1955 there were seven men.

Volunteer Fire Garage cost £136,585-86p.

Obituary 

Duncan Buie, March 7, 1951 – June 11, 2007 

To many, Jura without Duncan Buie will be like Jura without the Paps.
He was not just part of the island’s community, he was part of the island itself. Its character.
His sudden, untimely death at just 56 is another painful bodyblow for the 180 or so islanders who knew and loved him.
Just four weeks earlier, this most close-knit of communities had been left stunned by the loss of another of Jura’s favourite sons, Paddy Boyle, who passed away suddenly at the age of 45 on May15.
Duncan and Paddy were good friends and spent many a long night putting the world to rights from the comfort of their favourite stools in the Jura Hotel.
As someone said at Duncan’s funeral: ‘They’re back together now — imagine the hoolie in heaven tonight.’
One thing is for sure, Jura will never be the same without either of them.
One, of the last ‘true’ Diurachs, Duncan was born on March 7, 1951, the only child of Tottie and Dougie.
He lived on the island most of his days, leaving only for a few short years to do his apprenticeship at the Stag Garage in Kilmartin and to work as a lorry driver for McNair and Cameron of Dunoon.
He also had a spell in Lochaline with perhaps his greatest friend, Ian Keith. Their exploits would become the stuff of West Coast folklore.
But Duncan could not stay away from his beloved Jura long. He returned and took up a job at the distillery, where he worked for the past 31 years while filling voluntary roles as island’s chief firefighter, head of coastguard, undertaker, assistant registrar and lighthouse watchman.
In the early 1990s, his many occupations on the island landed him the star role in a Japanese TV documentary about Jura.
His television appearance earned him cult status in the Far East. In fact, when one visitor from Tokyo arrived in Craighouse and spotted the familiar bald head and neatly trimmed beard he could barely contain his excitement as he exclaimed: ‘Duncan-San! You big star in Japan!’
But Duncan was an even bigger star on Jura. He loved socialising and would often be the first to greet a newcomer or visitor to the island, putting to good use his uncanny ability to make a complete stranger feel like an old friend.
Now Duncan is with some of his very oldest friends. Ian, Lindsay, George, Charles and Paddy.
A generation who grew up together, played together, worked together, lived together. All taken from their families, friends and from their beloved Jura over the past four years, not one of them older than 60. All sadly missed, but never forgotten.
Duncan is with them now, raising a glass to Jura.

Slainte.

Willie Cochrane Jnr
(The Oban Times, Thursday, July 5, 2007. Page 21.)

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