Fire board a ‘scapegoat’

A MEMBER of the Highland and Islands Fire Board has claimed he would have been branded a "troublemaker" had he repeatedly quizzed senior officers about the running of the fire brigade.

Inverness councillor Roddy Balfour defended the heavily criticised board’s actions in a special meeting with officials from a watchdog which published a damning report on the board and the region’s fire brigade earlier this year.

The Accounts Commission – which monitors the spending of public money – highlighted poor management; sub-standard firefighter training; and stations in need of investment.

In a rescheduled meeting with commission officials in the city on Monday Mr Balfour described the commission’s conclusions as "allegations", which had unfairly laid the blame at the board’s door and claimed they had been made scapegoats.

He said councillors had tried to scrutinise the Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service management but could only do so much because not enough information was provided.

"If you asked difficult questions you would have been marked down as a troublemaker," Mr Balfour said.

"We are people of various backgrounds, we don’t have firefighter skills, most of us have no management skills and we don’t have health and safety skills.

"We are being made scapegoats. We do the job in good faith and on the evidence before us."

The commission’s audit controller, Fraser McKinlay, accepted senior fire officers had not brought forward the key issues to the board clearly enough.

"I agree that the board have not been given enough or sufficient information but the board has a duty to fulfil best value in everything that entails," he said.

Board member Dave Fallows said it was fair comment that councillors had not been inquisitive enough but was also concerned they had been tagged as the scapegoats in the process.

The brigade has now enhanced training amongst other improvements and commission chairman John Baillie said it would continue to monitor the progress.

"It is important as much as possible is being done before the move to a national single fire service," he said.

Fire board convener Andrew Drever said there was always going to be political concern when it came to large geographical areas like the Highlands and value for public money.

Mr Balfour said it was time for the board and service to move on.

"There has been no real harm done and nobody has suffered," he added.

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