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Region’s fire and rescue service recognise crash hotspots
May 4 2012 by Andrew Burns, Dumfries Standard Friday

THE AFTERMATH of a serious road crash can be a harrowing experience.
Emergency services have their own unique role to play in their attempts to help those in need.
The fire and rescue service, police and ambulance service each have a crucial involvement in pulling together resources at a time of panic. But living in a lesser populated area can present its own difficulties for those on the frontline.

Neil Erskine, head of service delivery with Dumfries and Galloway Fire and Rescue Service, explained: “It can be a difficult experience but it is important that everyone remains fully committed and professional.
“But one of the things about living in a rural area, especially in the retained stations in places like Gretna, Annan and Castle Douglas, is that those involved in the accidents can sometimes be people that you know.
“It can be very hard for people.
“Although they are trained and remain fully professional we are all human at the end of the day.
“We always have a de-brief process after an incident which helps cover learning points for the service and gets those involved talking about this type of situation.
“Everyone has their own way of dealing with it but we try to make sure that we offer support in the best possible way.”

Neil was attempting to give an idea of what the response to an emergency on our roads can be like.
He revealed that the fire and rescue service changed its process last year in recognition of the trends in road crashes across the region.
And the organisation moved to ensure that there was “additional equipment” placed in enhanced Fire Rescue Tenders (FRT) along the hotspots of the A75 and M74.
Neil said: “This came into place roughly one year ago and we had to recognise in what ways we could improve our service.
“We recognised that we couldn’t have all the kit just in one place so we strategically planned it so that it was spread out in the correct way.
“We use computer modelling to analyse statistics to see where road traffic collisions have been most common over the past number of years.
“It is our aim to distribute our resources in the best way possible.
“We have an enhanced FRT in Gretna and Dumfries across the A75 and we are looking to implement this into Annan next.
“The aim here is to ensure that we have the most efficient response available in the quickest possible time.
“And this is not just on the A75, but all across the region.
“A large percentage of the more serious accidents are on the A75 and on the M74 but in genera it is recognised nationally that rural areas are more common for road accidents.
“Every appliance has got cutting gear on it but the enhanced vehicles have that little bit more.
"That is all based around our integrated risk management planning.
“We identify where the road traffic collisions are of a greater concern in the region and identify where our resources are best placed.”

The fire and rescue service works to promote safer driving as part of the road safety partnership.
This is led by Dumfries and Galloway police force, Scottish Ambulance Service, Dumfries and Galloway Institute of Advanced Motorists, Dumfries and Galloway Safety Camera Partnership, Transport Scotland, Crown Office and NHS Dumfries and Galloway.
These various bodies combine to work in the community to help promote road safety and education.
The body has run programmes recently including Safe Drive, Stay Alive and a hit and run theatre, a staged production of a hit and run scenario.
Neil added: “We all work in partnership to try and promote safety on the roads.
“This involves running campaigns in schools and trying to educate drivers, especially young drivers.
“This can be a very eye-opening experience for some pupils in the schools, particularly the crash scenario.
“It is very well done and it shows drivers the dangers of dangerous and careless driving.”