Firefighters gathered outside council headquarters in Perth to protest against plans to axe the local workforce and reduce the number of fire appliances - as bosses were warned “lives will be lost”.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) will make £36 million of cuts nationally over the next four years - £11 million worth in 2023/24.
Appliances will be removed from over 10 stations - including Perth Fire Station where the Aerial Rescue Pump will work at reduced capacity.
From September 4, it will no longer pump water and be used only as a high reach appliance operated by a reduced two-person crew - cutting the number of appliances that pump water from three to two.
The workforce will be cut from 68 operational firefighters to 63.
The cuts come after two tragic fires rocked the county in the space of six months.
On January 2, a fatal blaze at the New County Hotel on County Place killed three people and a dog.
Siblings Donna Janse Van Rensburg (44) and Sharon McLean (47), both from Aberdeen, and Keith Russell (38) from Edinburgh, died in the incident.
Then less than two months later on February 28, dad Slawomir Szmeichel (46) was killed in a blast at Shore Recycling centre on Friarton Road.
David Evans of the Fire Brigade Union said on Wednesday that the cuts “were ill thought out and a bad idea”.
He said: “We should be getting investment rather than cuts and we should be recruiting rather than losing staff.”
Areas such as Highland Perthshire have regularly reported a shortage of retained firefighters.
Mr Evans said climate change was also putting an increased demand on the SFRS.
He said: “Every day we see the effects of the climate crisis and are dealing with it - wildfires and floods being the main ones.”
Around 20 firefighters sat in the public gallery as Perth and Kinross Council ’s Housing and Communities Committee unanimously expressed “grave concern” over the cuts and requested a meeting with SFRS decision makers.
Labour councillor Brian Leishman, who previously called the plans “dangerous”, tabled a motion which was seconded by Independent councillor Dave Cuthbert to acknowledge the “vital service” the SFRS provides.
It also called for a meeting between councillors, council officials, SFRS senior management and representatives of Perth and Kinross SFRS.
Labour councillor Leishman warned: “Buildings will be destroyed and lives will be lost. Cuts have consequences.”
Cllr Leishman launched a petition - which has over 700 signatures - calling for a stop to the cuts which “will put peoples’ lives in danger”.
He told the committee: “It’s already a dangerous job. Having less firefighters means that firefighters have to do more. That means putting themselves in more danger because they will have less colleagues on the watch.”
He added: “It was only in January this year that the New County Hotel went on fire. Keith Russell, Sharon McLean, Donna Janse Van Rensburg and her dog Joey all perished.
“Then just two months later – Slawomir Szmeichel tragically died in an explosion at the Shore Recycling centre.
“It isn’t scaremongering to ask how many more lives would have been lost at these incidents if we had this proposed reduction?”
Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Barrett said he and his colleagues - who joined the firefighters’ demonstration against the cuts - were “fully in support of the motion”.
The Perth City Centre councillor said: “There are real safety concerns as to what the impact of these cuts will be, what will it mean to the functionalities and capabilities of fire and rescue services in Perth and Kinross and to mobilisation and responsiveness.”
He described communication from the SFRS as “woeful”.
Addressing the firefighters, Conservative councillor Noah Khogali said: “We - in here - can express how frustrated we are and our dissatisfaction at it but in reality it’s the people on the street that are going to be able to push Holyrood into making those changes and that the Scottish Government are going to really support you in the way they should be. We hear you and will be fighting for you as much as we can.”
SFRS area commander Jason Sharp said: “The timing of the need to balance a budget has absolutely prevented the SFRS from engaging with yourselves as we would have wished to do so.”
He “urged” elected members to attend the meeting where they will take questions and “give assurance” on the decision making process.
Referring to comments made by SFRS chief fire officer Ross Haggart last year to the Scottish Government’s Criminal Justice Committee, he said: “He gave assurances that any changes would be data driven, based on risk and demand, where community safety would still be our top priority. And this still remains the case.”
