The date for the closure of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service control room in Aberdeen has been set.
Alasdair Hay, Chief Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, visited Aberdeen control room yesterday (23 August) to inform staff that the control room would be closing on 8 November.
From 8 November all calls to Scottish Fire that would normally be routed through the Aberdeen control room will be answered by staff working in temporary accommodation blocks at Macalpine Road fire station in Dundee. The new state-of-the-art control room and call handling facility at Macalpine Road is not scheduled to be open until March 2017
Alasdair Hay – Chief Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
Speaking yesterday Mr Hay said
This major investment will without doubt further enhance our protection across the North of Scotland.
We look forward to combining our capabilities from across Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness into this fantastic facility in Dundee.
It can deploy our specialist resources not only from across the North – but from across the whole of Scotland – at times of significant emergency.
I wanted to share this news myself with our operations control staff in Inverness and Aberdeen. I have made it clear to them that their role is critical to the very success of this important project.
He added
This announcement is the culmination of a very great deal of planning and preparation – and the public can rest assure that there will be no change to the outstanding service that we provide, and we will continue to attend every 999 call ahead of the launch of our new operations control at Dundee in March.
It really is a landmark occasion and we hope that our communities take great comfort from a national service that keeps going from strength to ever greater strength.
Some members of control room staff from Aberdeen have chosen to move to the new Dundee facility and those who have chosen to remain in Inverness and Aberdeen will be offered new roles where their skills and experience can still be used to benefit communities.
Pat Watters, chair of the SFRS Board said
As a Board, we are absolutely committed to delivering this state-of-the-art facility at Dundee – which will give our communities the protection they absolutely deserve.
It was therefore a great pleasure to meet with our operations control staff at Inverness and Aberdeen today. They, and their colleagues across Scotland, are to be thoroughly commended for not only their professionalism but their unstinting dedication.
