Glasgow's only high-ladder fire engine unavailable during office block inferno

"The Scottish fire and rescue service confirmed that, while standard city-based fire engines were on the scene within minutes of the first 999 call, the nearest available high-reach appliance which adds vital additional capacity to tackle a large blaze came from Coatbridge, an 11-mile (18km), 26-minute drive away in light traffic."

"After cuts in 2023 that reduced the number of high-reach fire engines across Scotland from 26 to 16, there is now only one stationed around Glasgow city centre, at Maryhill, with another in the nearby town of Johnstone."

"We don't know right now what difference the reduction in fire service capacity would have made on Sunday. We need an immediate investigation into any potential impact this may have had on the response so that lessons can be urgently learned."

A major fire at a Victorian office block in Glasgow exposed significant capacity concerns within Scotland's fire and rescue service. While standard fire engines arrived within five minutes, the nearest high-reach ladder appliance took 26 minutes to reach the scene from Coatbridge, 11 miles away. Following 2023 budget cuts that reduced high-reach fire engines across Scotland from 26 to 16, Glasgow now has only one stationed at Maryhill and another in Johnstone. On the day of the fire, multiple simultaneous incidents across Scotland may have affected resource deployment. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called for an immediate investigation into whether reduced fire service capacity impacted the response and what lessons could be learned.

Read at www.theguardian.com