Fife

There are two options proposed for Fife that involve four fire stations.

• Dunfermline
• Lochgelly
• Glenrothes
• Methil

• Replace the third appliance at Dunfermline which is a combined aerial rescue pump (CARP) with a dedicated high reach appliance. The third appliance (CARP) was temporarily withdrawn and replaced with a high reach appliance in September 2023; AND 
• Reduce the number of wholetime appliances based at Lochgelly from two to one; AND
• Reduce the number of wholetime appliances based at Methil  from two to one. The second appliance was temporarily withdrawn in September 2023; AND
• Reinstate the second appliance that was temporarily removed in September 2023 at Glenrothes

Pros

• Reinstatement of second appliance at Glenrothes.
• Reduction and redirection of around £2.4 million in annual running cost.

Cons

• Moderate increase in second and third appliance response times within local areas

• Replace the third appliance at Dunfermline which is a combined aerial rescue pump (CARP) with a dedicated high reach appliance. The third appliance (CARP) was temporarily withdrawn and replaced with a high reach appliance in September 2023; AND
• Reduce the number of wholetime appliances based at Lochgelly from two to one; AND
• Reduce the number of wholetime appliances based at Glenrothes from two to one. The second appliance was temporarily withdrawn in September 2023; AND
• Reinstate the second appliance that was temporarily removed in September 2023 at Methil.

Pros

• Reinstatement of second appliance at Methil.
• Reduction and redirection of around £2.4 million in annual running cost

Cons

• Moderate increase in second and third appliance response times within local areas.

In September 2023, budgetary limitations required the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to select ten of its wholetime appliances for temporary withdrawal. This included three in Fife and a permanent equivalent solution is now required.

Three fire stations in Fife - Lochgelly, Glenrothes and Methil - each had two wholetime appliances based there. But they were identified as having some of the least operational demand in Scotland and modelling identified that withdrawing second appliances from two of these stations had tolerable impacts on response times.

Three appliances were temporarily withdrawn within the Fife local authority area in September 2023.

This included the third combined aerial rescue pump (CARP) at Dunfermline, which was replaced by a dedicated high reach appliance.

Due to a lack of time to relocate Lochgelly’s specialist rope rescue capability, the station was not selected as a location for temporary appliance withdrawal and the slightly busier stations at Glenrothes and Methil were selected instead.

We currently have a high concentration of resources based within Fife relative to the operational demand of these stations and compared to other similar geographical areas elsewhere in Scotland.

Dunfermline currently has three wholetime appliances.The third is a CARP. Operational demand for this appliance is very low, and we are replacing all CARPs across Scotland with specialist high reach appliances.

Operational demand at Lochgelly, Glenrothes and Methill is among the lowest of all wholetime stations in Scotland that have two whole time appliances; and is more aligned to stations with one appliance. Operational modelling shows that permanently changing two of these locations
to having one appliance would be sufficient.

Since September 2023, the incident demand of Lochgelly station has slightly exceeded that of Glenrothes or Methil. This is because these stations have had fewer appliances to deploy resulting in the two Lochgelly appliances picking up a larger share of the operational activity.

The five-year implementation timescale of the Service Delivery Review has enabled SFRS to revisit the withdrawal of the second appliance from Lochgelly and consider it preferable to withdrawing from Glenrothes and Methil.

Withdrawing the second appliance from Lochgelly was identified as having the least impacts on response times.