Firefighters need our support as cutbacks threaten service

My emotional attachment is largely down to the late, great Billy Cosgrove – the uncle that became my surrogate dad after the real one passed away.

Billy was a fireman and well-kent face around Perth. When he was on the late shift, he often took me into the old fire ­station opposite the City Hall, to slide down the pole and waddle around in size 10 boots.

I’m sure there is a paediatric ­psychologist who can explain why kids love ­wearing shoes that are eight sizes too big. I ­often muse on the phenomenon when I see those old social realist photographs of the ­Gorbals, where a kid is inevitably ­sashaying through the midden wearing size six ­stilettos.

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But enough of quaint poverty, it is ­firefighters that deserve our praise, ­especially with the threat of significant cutbacks to services across Scotland. Many workers can claim the importance of their job, but few can do it with the certainty of firefighters.

It is abundantly clear that the media coverage of industrial disputes can often be superficial and focus predominantly on either annoyance to the public or the perceived selfishness of striking workers.

Rail workers, teachers and junior doctors can all tell of the raw end of media coverage, portrayed as greedy, uncaring and out of touch with what is desperately referred to as the real world. Reductive media coverage is one of the many reasons that firefighters tend to lead their disputes with the politics of public safety.

Let us not forget that firefighters have played a role at almost every ­major ­tragedy in modern Scottish history, from Lockerbie to Piper Alpha and many ­lesser-known events.

My first real memory of their ­selfless bravery was the James Watt Street ­tragedy in 1968, when 22 people died in a ­horrendous fire in AJ & S Stern’s ­furniture factory in an old, bonded ­warehouse in central Glasgow. The ­victims were trapped inside a building by barred windows, described at the time as being “like a high-security prison”.

The difficulties that the fire brigade faced on the day provoked many changes to the law and to firefighting ­practice. The fire had been exacerbated by ­polyurethane foam, used in the manufacturing of furniture at the time. The burning foam gave off toxic fumes and burned at a high temperature blocking the escape route from the first floor where most of the factory staff were working. Another emergency escape route out was via the steel door, which was locked, and the windows had steel bars.

Most of the victims died unable to ­escape.

What was remarkable in the ­aftermath of James Watt Street is that the Fire ­Brigades Union (FBU) pursued a whole catalogue of changes to ­buildings in ­Glasgow which at the time was known colloquially as “Tinderbox City” – a ­reference to crowded tenements and the old bonded warehouses that still lined the River Clyde.

The FBU came to understand that it could strengthen its cause by shifting the tone of conventional trade union ­debates from pay to public safety.

The safety of Scotland has been at the forefront of its campaigning ever since. Last week, firefighters were once again escalating their concerns, as cutbacks threaten to reduce the number of fire ­brigade units across Scotland.

Since 2010, Scotland alone has lost 1100 firefighters. The Scottish Fire & ­Rescue Service is looking to cut a ­further £11 million this year and £36m over the coming five years. According to union leaders, “this will lead to a totally unfit fire and rescue service for the needs of the people of Scotland”.

What is often ignored in the cut and thrust of saving money is that Scotland throws up very different fire-fighting c­hallenges – rural to urban.

The latest plan for cuts comes a week after ­firefighters successfully battled a wildfire that started burning near Cannich, south of Inverness, in the Highlands. Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary (below), has claimed it “is now believed to be one of the biggest wildfires in UK history” and a prequel to events that will become more common with global warming.

We have all seen the dramatic threats to chunks of California and the rural Mediterranean regions but until Cannich, the Scottish Highlands felt relatively safe.

The sheer scale of the Highlands is ­itself a problem. Due to the remote and unforgiving terrain, unpredictable wind patterns and dense forestry, fire units must transport equipment by hand while being exposed to significant temperatures and unforeseen risk.

THE Central Belt throws up different but equally testing challenges. Fife is facing significant threat to services, with proposals threatening the withdrawal of appliances from Methil, Glenrothes, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy. Fife Council leader David Ross has labelled the plans “outrageous” and has asked the Scottish Fire and Rescue service to withdraw them in the interests of public safety.

The proposal includes a height ­appliance in Kirkcaldy, raising anxieties about fighting fires at the architecturally ­complex Victoria Hospital and the high-rise Ravens Craig flats.

In Glasgow, a fightback has been ­mobilised at Govan Community Fire ­Station which provides fire and rescue cover to the densely populated areas of ­Govan, Cardonald and Pollokshields, as well as supporting neighbouring stations.

If Govan loses its second appliance, it will cut 10 to 15 firefighter jobs – and put at risk an efficient response to incidents at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, one of the largest acute hospital campuses in Europe.

Govan is a unique hub in Scotland’s fire-fighting map. It services BAE ­Systems shipbuilders, three subway stations, the Riverside Museum, the BBC and STV studio buildings and the Partick to ­Govan footbridge which is currently under ­construction. The proposed appliance withdrawal would see a key resource covering major entertainment venues such as Ibrox Stadium, Bellahouston Park, the Hydro and the SEC lost.

I will always be grateful to the squad at Govan Community Fire Station for saving my life. OK, that’s a slight exaggeration – for coming to extinguish a fire that had broken out on the roof of Pacific Quay while I was presenting Off The Ball.

The show was curtailed. A less than nimble Tam Cowan led our escape as a fire crew rushed us down the stairs to the safety of a gathering point outside the ­Science Centre.

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I would like to leave you with an image of leaping flames, suffocating smoke and Hollywood action shots of a lone fireman fighting backdraft to save Off The Ball, but it was only briefly exciting, and the show came back on air an hour later.

One thing that I cannot erase from my memory was the dark comedy that ­unfolded. As news of the fire spread, many social media cynics made the not ­unreasonable claim that Off The Ball had been on air for far too long. Still others, driven by the emotions of constitutional politics, tried to waft the flames round to the news and current affairs department hoping it would engulf the desks of some of Scotland’s most prominent radio and television journalists.

A sense of duty prevents me from listing the names but I’m sure your imagination is fluent enough to guess, and sense of ­public duty is developed enough to support Scotland’s firefighters.