A RETIRED fire officer has hit out at the decision to cut staff at the Galashiels station.

David Thomson, who had over 25 years service, believes lives will be lost with firefighters having to make life-and-death decisions.

Last week’s Border Telegraph revealed how the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service were in the process of cutting full-time fighters in the town from 44 to 28.

Shift cover of five on-duty firefighters will regularly face a decision over which of its two appliances - a normal pumping appliance and a Incident Support Unit - to take on call-outs.

The region’s senior officer John Dickie claimed a staffing over-provision as the main reason behind the move. But one former officer, who was at the fire face for quarter of a century, is furious about the move. Mr Thomson served at Galashiels and Hawick as well as Edinburgh during a distinguished service. He told the Border Telegraph: “If you don’t have the numbers you can’t do the job properly - it’s as simple as that. Galashiels has always had a first appliance and a specialist appliance for as long as I know yet we are now going to be in a position where there are only enough firefighters to man one of them. We may not have the number of fires that they do in the city but we have more road accidents, water rescues and other specialist operations. Anyone with experience in the fire service will tell you that this is a very worrying situation.

“You could have firefighters rushing back to the station - going past an incident - to get the Incident Support Unit. Or they may just tackle the incident without the proper equipment - and they will end up in trouble. Can you imagine the choices that some firefighters are going to face?” The Incident Support Unit in Galashiels - one of only three in the Lothians and Borders area - has already been called out 41 times this year. Mr Thomson, who reached the rank of junior officer, was forced to retire on medical grounds after a roof collapsed on him during a rescue.

But the 66-year-old from Melrose remains in contact with many current and former firefighters.

He continued: “I am not alone in my views. What happens in the vent of flooding - who will respond? What is there’s an incident on the new railway - there’s not always cover for the Incident Support Unit and it’s the only appliance which can deal with heavy incidents? People could lose their lives because of these decisions.” The introduction of Resource Based Crewing for Galashiels, which will see 16 firefighters moved to stations in Edinburgh or Hawick, has already been agreed. And bosses are busily attempting to fill vacancies for retained firefighters at nine of the region’s 13 stations. The second pumping appliance in Galashiels is operated by retained staff.

But Mr Thomson believes deputising full-time firefighters with retained staff is a false economy. He added: “I have the greatest respect for retained firefighters but they do not have the specialist training of most full time staff. According to Scottish Fire & Rescue retained firefighters will earn £7,000 a year - they still have to add training and other costs onto this.”