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Friday, 22 November, 2002, 12:17 GMT
Military providing Scots fire cover
Military personnel
Green Goddesses provide the bulk of Scotland's cover
The Army, Navy and Royal Air Force are once again providing an emergency fire service as members of the Fire Brigades Union start their eight-day strike

Here is a region by region breakdown of the emergency cover Scotland can expect until the end of the strike, scheduled for 0900 GMT on Saturday, 30 November.

Scotland-wide

The Ministry of Defence said it is deploying a total of 110 Green Goddess fire tenders across the country.

Currently there are also 27 "Red Goddess" machines available.

These are reserve fire tenders carrying more sophisticated equipment than the 1950s Green Goddess machines.

A Green Goddess
The Green Goddesses date back to the 1950s
At least two have already been deployed - to Grampian and Tayside - while training continues on the remainder.

These will be crewed by service personnel after training is completed, and like all other Goddesses, Red and Green, will be escorted to fires by police.

Central

As last time there will be nine Green Goddesses crewed by Royal Navy personnel.

These will be augmented by three Breathing Apparatus and Rescue Tenders (BARTS) and one Regional Emergency Support Tender (REST). These carry cutting gear to rescue people trapped in road accidents.

Royal Marines training
The Green Goddess has a low-pressure pump

Two retained stations - at Tillicoultry and Callendar - are expected to work normally, although the brigade's assistant firemaster said he expects regular crews to leave their picket lines where life is at risk - as they did during the two-day stoppage.

Training is under way for servicemen to have one additional Red Goddess, with the likelihood later in the strike of a further two vehicles being made available.

Dumfries and Galloway

Only the Dumfries station is manned by full-time firefighters; the rest are manned by retained men who will maintain emergency cover during the dispute.

The replacement for the strikers will be provided by two Green Goddesses, one BART and one REST staffed by the Army.

Fife

The Kingdom of Fife will have eight Green Goddesses, manned by Royal Navy personnel.

There are also the single pump, retained stations at Auchterarder and Newburgh.

Like Grampian Fire Brigade, Fife has sent two, obsolete tenders, equipped only with high pressure hoses, to the Scottish Executive.

Grampian

North East Scotland will have eight Green Goddesses, manned by RAF personnel, as well as three BARTs and one REST.

Red Goddess
MoD crews are being trained on red tenders

These are RAF vehicles. Four stations where there are retained and wholetime crews - Elgin, Peterhead, Kintore and Dyce - will not be expected to work.

At 33 stations staffed solely by retained crews, the firefighters are expected to work normally.

Grampian will also receive one of the Red Goddesses on which MoD personnel have already been trained.

Highlands and Islands

There will be six Green Goddesses and one red machine manned by RAF personnel based at Cameron Barracks in Inverness.

All of the full-time firefighters - around 150 - are on strike, along with 72 retained men.

This will leave almost 1,000 retained firefighters still available to cover the north and the Isles.

Lothian and Borders

The Lothians, including Edinburgh and the Borders, are being served by 23 Green Goddess tenders, operated by Army personnel.

Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade handed over three red appliances and service personnel are being trained to use these machines.

The breathing apparatus BART teams are provided by the Navy and Air Force and joint services teams are providing rescue teams with cutting gear.

At three stations retained crews working alongside full-time colleagues - Hawick, Galashiels and Bathgate - are expected not to work.

Of the 23 retained stations, 13 worked normally last time.

Strathclyde

The largest brigade operation in Scotland covers half the country's population.

An MoD spokesman said 46 Green Goddesses are being deployed in centres from Ayr to Dunoon and from Irvine to Lanark.

There is one rescue team and 13 breathing apparatus teams crewed by Navy and RAF personnel.

Sixty per cent of retained units in the brigade area will work normally, as will all of the volunteer units in the islands.

The Strathclyde joint fire committee has announced it is releasing 10 red appliances to be used by MoD staff.

These have come from the reserve fleet, and will have no equipment other than high pressure pumps and hosereels.

Tayside

Dundee, Perth and the surrounding areas will have nine Green Goddesses crewed by RAF personnel.

They will also have a Red Goddess on which service crews have trained, along with four BARTs and one REST. These come from the RAF.

Two stations in Tayside have both full-time and retained crews, 17 are staffed by retained crews only.

At the moment, itis expected about half of them will work normally.


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22 Nov 02 | UK
21 Nov 02 | Scotland
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18 Nov 02 | Politics
13 Nov 02 | UK
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