Wick firefighters' farewell presentations to retired colleague Richard Mackay
Firefighters in Wick gathered to hand over farewell gifts to their former colleague Richard Mackay.
Richard retired at the end of December after more than 42 years with the fire service in the town. The presentations took place in Wick fire station on Thursday evening.
Richard, whose full-time job is plumber, joined the fire service on September 4, 1978, becoming a leading firefighter in 1993 and then crew commander when the job titles changed a few years ago.
As it happened, neither of Richard's first nor last call-outs involved actual fires. His first job was a malicious call to a non-existent fire at a wooden house that used to stand at Wick Airport, while his final shout, on his last day in the job, was in support of the Scottish Ambulance Service which needed help to transport a patient downstairs from a house in Lybster.
Richard received an engraved wooden plaque from watch commander Colin Gunn, while crew commanders Hugo Ross, John Dunnett and Graeme Miller handed over a bottle of craft gin, a model firefighter's helmet and a set of engraved glasses.
