The replacement of a 10-year-old height appliance at Perth Community Fire Station has been delayed by up to two years.
Councillors have been assured the current appliance was “rigorously tested” and the area’s fire chief “wouldn’t anticipate any issues” as a result.
The update was provided to Perth and Kinross Council’s Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee on Wednesday, November 27.
As part of a national review of height appliances it was decided the combined aerial rescue pump (CARP) at Perth be replaced by a brand new dedicated height appliance. However the need to replace another CARP in Scotland has meant Perth will have to wait a bit longer for its replacement.
Area commander Bryan Todd said: “Due to unforeseen circumstances there has been a requirement to accelerate the replacement of another height appliance within the service, which will now have an impact and delay the replacement for Perth by around 18 to 24 months.
“The CARP will remain at Perth being used as a height appliance only so we’re in no worse state. We’ve had that for over 10 years now and that will continue until we can get the new appliance to replace that.”
Conservative councillor Bob Brawn asked about the life expectancy of such appliances and maintenance costs.
Mr Todd responded: “We have a robust service plan in place for all our appliances.”
He assured councillors height appliances were “rigorously tested” and explained the lifespan varied because some appliances were used more than others but that he had “no qualms” about the current appliance being used for a bit longer.
The area commander added: “What we also do is rotate those around the organisation to make sure we have an even spread and get our asset to work more for us and make it last longer.
“I’ve no qualms about the CARP staying in place at the moment and the regime we’ve got in place for monitoring and reviewing that.
“I wouldn’t anticipate any issues within the timescales we’re expecting it to be replaced.”