Fire and Rescue Service Structure
How are we organised to serve our community?
Chief Fire Officer
The Fire and Rescue Service is led by Chief Fire Officer Brian Murray from its headquarters in Inverness.
The Service is managed through a model consisting of:
- Fire and Rescue Service Management Team
- Service Delivery
- Service Support.
Fire and Rescue Service Management Team
The Management Team supports the Executive Command and consists of:
- All heads of department or function
- The Service Personnel Adviser.
The Management Team meets on a monthly basis.
Functional Areas
An Area Manager, or their support staff equivalent, manages each function.
All heads of function are based in Service HQ.
The following functional areas are based in Inverness:
- Service Fire Control
- Engineering & Supply
- Principal Administration and Finance Office
- Communications Workshops
- Training & Development Main Office.
The Service's central training facility is sited at Invergordon, 25 miles north of Inverness.
Service Support
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer heads the Service Support element of the structure overseeing the following functions:
- Operations Suppport
- Training & Development
- Corporate Services
- Engineering and Supply
- Human Resources
Service Delivery
The Deputy Chief Fire Officer leads the Service Delivery element of the structure consisting of:
- The two geographical command areas (North Command & South Command)
- Community Risk Management
The Fire and Rescue Service's function is currently delivered through a network of 128 stations consisting of:
- 1 Wholetime
- 95 Retained
- 31 Community Response Units
The Fire and Rescue Service's 32 Auxiliary stations are to be subjected to a review by the
Fire Board following receipt of the guidance in respect of Integrated Risk Management Planning, a
risk based approach to identifying Fire Cover requirements.
District Offices
Locally based, multi-role professional officers centred in 12 District Offices administer the fire stations through the Command Area structure.
These officers provide all of the following support to their designated stations and surrounding communities:
- Community Risk Management
- Operations
- Training
- Administration
These offices are located in Inverness, Aviemore, Fort William, Invergordon, Portree, Ullapool, Dornoch, Thurso, Stornoway, Benbecula, Kirkwall and Lerwick. Four Deputy Area Commanders are based in Kyle of Lochalsh, Fort William, Ullapool and Wick to provide operational and management support to the commands.
Firefighting Roles
Three categories of firefighter are employed in the Service:
- 158 Wholetime
- 1244 Retained
- 336 Auxiliary
Wholetime personnel provide:
- The officer complement
- Specialist training staff
- Control personnel
- The only shift based station in the Service covering the City of Inverness and surrounding area.
All the Service's specialist appliances are based in Inverness and attend incidents across the Highland area.
Retained personnel staff one pump and two pump stations across the area in the major communities.
A one pump retained unit is attached to Inverness station.
Auxiliary personnel provide cover to the most sparsely populated areas of the rural hinterland of the Service. Many of these units are on remote islands or in isolated communities on the mainland or on major islands. Auxiliary personnel receive similar payment to retained personnel for training and incidents but they do not receive the annual retaining fee. These Auxiliary units are housed in a variety of premises ranging from specifically designed stations through converted industrial units and commercial premises to timber storage buildings for the non mobile auxiliary equipment stores.
Support Staff Roles
The Fire and Rescue Service employs a support staff of 50 in its Corporate Services and Engineering and Supply functions.
39 of these are based in Inverness and the remainder act as administrative support to the Area
and District Offices.
