Wick
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Contact details
Wick Retained Station Martha Terrace Wick KW1 5EL Current complement: 19 |
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| Water Tender Ladder |
Community
Wick Station covers an urban/rural area, with one town, five large villages and several smaller ones. In addition, the Dunbeath and John O'Groats mobile auxiliaries and Lybster non-mobile auxiliaries make up the cover for the rest of Caithness, approximately 540 square miles. Much of the area has young forests.
Caithness General Hospital is only 1 minute from the station, it is one of the largest buildings in the town.
Farms in the area tend to be small with only a few people working on them. This is a relatively low risk for us now.
Fishing, once the main employment in the town, no longer exists, and although some supply ships do come to Wick they are generally well administered and provide an excellent chance for training.
There are five Homes for the elderly in our area and one for the handicapped in the countryside. We have road, rail, air and harbour links in our town providing the usual risks associated with them.
Regular training with the Airport fire service, the ambulance service, Coastguards and Police give us an excellent community response, which in the event of an incident gives us the confidence to work together.
Jobs in the town are scarce which could make it more difficult in the future to cover daytime hours.
Our community was once a thriving harbour town though sadly this is no longer the case. Fire calls in the last 25 years have risen threefold, with road accidents being the cause of most of the deaths and injuries. As with many stations in the Highland and Islands someone on the crew often knows the casualty - we are just part of the community we serve.
Crew
Back Row: Mervyn Hill, Ian Swanson, Graeme Miller, Steven Allen, Richard MacKay,
Richard Hughes, Graham Campbell, Simon Sinclair, Gary Geddes, Willie Gunn
Front Row: Hugh Ross, John Durrand, Colin Gunn, John Gunn (Officer in Charge),
George Steven, Kenny Swan, John Dunnet, Graeme Doull
Recruitment for the station has not been a problem in the past with more applications than posts.
Seven of the crew are self employed, we also have two Water Board officials, one painter, one driver, two joiners, one mason, two unemployed at present, one electrician supervisor, one distiller, one pool attendant and one Dounreay Firefighter.
Queens Jubilee Medal Holders
We have 5 Long Service Good Conduct medal holders and 14 Queens Jubilee medal holders in the station.
In Wick Station, only full time working considerations or ill health have been the cause of a Firefighter leaving. All of our crew feel that this is a job worth doing.
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At different times, all of our crew have been involved with charity fundraising. Most recently 2 raft races, one in Scrabster and one in Wick, which we won with a ten man crew, the prize money (£130 and £100) was given back to the RNLI along with the sponsorship money raised. Open days in the past have raised thousands of poinds for local charities, and cycle runs around the Fire Service stations and Orkney have helped many people in our area. Childrens charities have always been a favourite of the crew. Several of the crew are involved with youth training, some helping youngsters to gain their Duke of Edinburgh award. |
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Our main priority is the continued improvement of the station and crew to meet today's higher standards and to make the public more aware of the dangers around their homes and work places, by station visits, talks and school visits.
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Gordon Cook MBE retired from the HIFRS on 12 January 2006. Pictured are the CFO presenting Gordon with his award and Gordon with some of his guests who attended his retirement function held on the 28 January in Wick. |
