Flagship fire training centre opened

Sep 14 2011 by Johnathon Menzies, Stirling Observer Wednesday

A STATE-OF-THE-ART centre designed to teach firefighters life-saving skills was officially opened following a ceremony yesterday (Tuesday).

The £250,000 training unit, situated on the site of the former Kincardine Power Station, will be used by personnel from the Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service to hone their expertise.

Built by Kidde Fire Trainers, the facility accurately recreates situations faced by the emergency services on a daily basis, such as compartment fires in buildings and ships.

It will also allow the crews to prepare for potentially lethal back-draft conditions, as well as extremely high temperatures and dangerous ‘flashovers’, in addition to other scenarios.

Officially known as the Carbonaceous Firefighting Training Unit, the site adjacent to Clackmannanshire Bridge is owned by Scottish Power and will also be used by the Scottish Police College and the country’s ambulance service.

Alan Nimmo, convener of the region’s fire board, officially opened the training centre at a special event yesterday morning.

Afterwards, Chief Fire Officer Kenneth Taylor declared: “This is a great step forward for the service as it will allow us to deliver fire behaviour training to our firefighters and officers, giving them the skills, knowledge and understanding to deal with incidents effectively, efficiently and, most importantly, safely.”

John Geates, a director of the Scottish Police College, added: “We are delighted to enter into a partnership to share these excellent facilities.

“The site provides unique training opportunities. We will be looking to develop further partnerships to ensure the full training potential of the site is realised.

“This demonstrates the versatility of Tulliallan as a training and education centre of excellence, in addition to the core national training we provide for the Scottish Police Service.”

Admitting to being “delighted”, Ian Chisholm, Scottish Power’s station manager at Longannet, continued: “We have a very good working relationship with the emergency services in central Scotland, which we look forward to continuing.”

Sheet timber for the training centre has been supplied by Cowie-based Norbord. The firm’s general manager, Gordon Laing, described the facility as “fantastic” and said he was proud to be able to have some input.