Chief Officer addresses Scottish Fire Conference 2010

Chief Officer Brian Sweeney today spoke at the Scottish Fire Conference 2010

Brian Sweeney, Chief Officer of Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, this morning addressed an audience of leading fire service figures at the Scottish Fire Conference 2010.

Discussing 'Managing the Challenges' from a chief officer's perspective, Mr Sweeney spoke about the difficulties faced by fire and rescue services during the financial crisis.

Mr Sweeney also commented on the debate concerning the future of the Scottish Fire Service, particularly proposals that Scotland's eight fire and rescue services should be amalgamated into a smaller number of services or even merged into a single service covering the whole of the country.

Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Officer Lewis Ramsay, Director of Community Safety, led a workshop on the Scottish Government's 'Scotland Together' report into accidental fire deaths. The report, which put forward 37 recommendations for tackling the issue, was drawn up by a team largely comprising members of SFR.

Also, on this first day of the two-day conference at Crieff Hydro, Diane Lauder, SFR's Head of Organisational Development, led a workshop on how fire & rescue services could reach a consensus on dealing with the challenges faced by the Scottish Fire Service.