SCOTLAND faces a “firestorm” because cuts to the country’s fire service have increased the time it takes to reach life-threatening fires and stopped the recruiting and training of new firefighters.

A Fire Brigades Union (FBU) report says that 1,200 firefighters’ jobs have been axed and another 780 are at risk in the next five years.

This is because Scottish Fire and Rescue Service funding has been “flatlined,” meaning that the amount of money allocated remains the same each year while inflation eats away at its real value, according to the report.

This year alone has seen 10 fire engines, a number of high-reach vehicles and the permanently crewed river rescue boat on the Clyde withdrawn from stations, leaving communities with reduced emergency cover, the FBU says.

Problems include climate change causing an increase in the number of incidents requiring fire service attendance.

The report, entitled Firestorm, says the service has insufficient staff, inadequate and out-of-date equipment, crumbling infrastructure, an aggressive management culture, falling training standards and an ageing workforce.

It adds that the problems are “being ignored by the political leaders who set inadequate budgets and then claim that cuts to services are ‘operational decisions for SFRS management’ and nothing to do with them.”

FBU Scottish secretary John McKenzie said: “This state of the nation report into the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service paints a damning picture of underinvestment, declining standards and job losses, all of which increases the risk to firefighters and public we serve. 

“We cannot go on like this. Our members and the public have had enough.

“Over the last decade, we have been failed by political leaders who have tried to ignore this crisis. They cannot ignore us now.”

The Fire and Rescue Service was invited to comment.