Historic Star and Garter Burns

At the eastern end of Linlithgow's High Street stood the iconic Star and Garter Hotel. It had been on the site for over 250 years having first been established in 1759. It's familiar black corner brinks had given it a distinctive outline to the whitewashed walls.

This morning at about 7am a fire broke out in a first floor linen cupboard and rapidly spread to the second floor and then roof. The proximity to the railway station in the town and it's position at the junction of the Edinburgh Road, Blackness Road and High Street and proximity to the railway station caused chaos to this morning's rush hour. The station was not reopened until 12:30.

It is always a disaster when fire takes an historic building and it is too early to determine what will become of the site. But with the open floors collapsed and a large amount of water damage to timbers elsewhere it will not be a easy task to restore the building to its working state.

As a bowler and on an historic note the West Lothian Bowling Association was founder in the Star and Garter in 1882.

999 Who Ya Gonna Call? Read all relevant memos first

You pick up the phone and dial 999 you expect to have an emergency service that will do whatever it can to help you from that emergency.

So your mother falls down a 60 foot mineshaft* in Ayrshire who you going call?

Well you'll need the Ambulance Service to treat the injuries but you need to get her out first, so surely the local Fire Brigade will be the people to assist the ambulance crew in getting their patient to where she can be treated? Not so.

In July 2008 Alison Hume had done just that and her daughter Jane went looking for her when she failed to return. Finding her in a disused mineshaft 120 yards from her home.

Despite a firefighter volunteering to be lowered down on a rope to rescue her a little bit of paper from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue chiefs in March that year caused a quandary. The memo had banned the use of rope equipment from lifting members of the public to safety. It wasn't until six hours afterwards that Mrs Hume was eventually lifted to the surface when a mountain rescue team were in attendance. However, she died of a heart attack as she was being lifted up.

For those of you who don't know Ayrshire while it has some gorgeous hills it hardly necessitates a full time mountain rescue presence.

During the hearing into the incident a solicitor asking the first senior Fire Officer on the scene what happened that day:

"If Mrs Hume had fallen down the shaft on 13 March, instead of 26 July, you could have used a lowering line?"

He replied: "We could have."

There are too issues that Health and Safety have to deal with, obviously first is the health and safety of the workers who carry out the dangerous tasks. The second in the case of an emergency service is the health and safety of the members of the public that they are supposed to be helping. I'm not expecting firemen to be fearless, but to have control over the fear of the situation they are facing and take the calculated risks that they believe are necessary in every situation.

I'm not calling for reckless abandon of Health and Safety regulation but on the spot risk assessment which can be changed by those on the spot in the event of a crisis and not dictated by some pen pusher at a desk.

* Note not the one pictured.

Retained Fire Fighters: Keep the Opt Out

There is a need to keep the retained Fire Fighters in our communities. 321 of Scotland's 391 fire stations were staffed by part-time retained fire fighters. Below
Tavish Scott with Mike Rumbles and Rosemary Bruce discuss the issue.



You can join the campaign at www.keeptheoptout.com

Slow! Fire! SNP Catch Up In Glasgow East

A week may be a long time in politics to what about 6 months. Aye that is how long it has taken the SNP to wake up to the blight of Parkhead Fire Station.

Back then John Mason was merely a list MSP humble councillor for Glasgow Ballieston before he took the seat off Labour and a disgruntled Margaret Curran. However, when all the candidates back then where challenged by Lib Dem candidate Ian Robertson over the shutting down of the station serving the heavily tenemented area they remained silent. However, now Sandra White has spoken up against this closure saying:

"Parkhead fire station covers some of the poorest communities in the United
Kingdom and research shows the main causes of fires are related to social and
economic problems.

"Parts of this area are badly affected by drug and alcohol abuse problems,
as well as poverty and high unemployment. I believe management's proposals will
be detrimental to these communities."

Pity her colleague Mr Mason hadn't realised the same situation 6 months ago in July

Obviously Lib Dem MSP for Glasgow Robert Brown is delighted to have another voice joining him in urging Government to use its power to intervene to reconsider the issues involved in closing Parkhead and moving service two miles away from such vulnerable citizens.

The is even a link from the Glasgow News site to the long running Lib Dem online petition.


hat tip to Andrew Reeves