TEAMS of Scottish fire fighters have battled more than 40 blazes in the past decade – in their own stations and fire engines.
Crews across the country have used fire hoses, thermal imaging cameras, ladders and Co2 extinguishers to put out at least 41, mostly accidental, fires since 2002.
Official figures, released through Freedom of Information, reveal that in Fife, fire fighters have dealt with six fires in engines and stations in the past decade, five of which were accidental.
The force recorded one blaze in “a cab of a fire engine” in 2006 at service headquarters. The fire was extinguished by a hose real jet.
In 2008, in Dunfermline, an electrical fire within the Aerial Ladder Platform of a fire appliance also had to be extinguished by fire fighters.
Grampian Fire and Rescue recorded six fires since 2009, including a toilet fire in Insch Station in 2012, and two electrical fires within two months of each other at Altens fire station in Aberdeen- in both instances overheated light fittings in the station locker rooms were to blame.
In Peterhead fire station in 2009 a printer smoked, and later that year a light fitting in a hallway in Aberdeen went on fire.
In Tayside an incident in 2004 saw a fire appliance set alight, after embers from a fire at a church were pulled into the appliance air duct, which then set fire to the “air filter and housing”. Crews at the scene had to extinguish the fire themselves.
Lothian and Borders recorded six incidents since 2009 – including four toilet fires.
In the kitchen at Musselburgh Station in 2009 refrigerator gas ignited in the kitchen area. Fluorescent lights in the toilets of stations at four different stations caused electrical fires to start.
Dumfries and Galloway attended four incidents since 2002, three of which were electrical and the fourth was a bin in the grounds of a fire station that was set alight in 2011.
Strathclyde recorded 18 incidents, 17 of which were accidental and one deliberate.
Neither Central nor Highlands and Islands fire services reported any fires in fire stations or fire appliances since 2002.
Mike Cordiner, station manager with Grampian Fire and Rescue, said: “The positive thing is that the incidents were all very minor fires and mostly involved electrical wiring, and that nobody was injured.
“It does show that if a fire can occur in a fire station, which is a very safe place, then a fire can occur anywhere.
“It also highlights the importance of fitting a smoke detector, to prevent fires before they happen.”
