Establishment 2000

New station opens at Inverurie 

<PHOTO> Grampian Firemaster Douglas Close (front left) congratulates Station Officer James Gerrard (centre) at yesterday’s opening of the new Inverurie fire station. Divisional Commander Douglas Macpherson (second left) and Deputy Firemaster Neil Morrison (right) look on.
A new chapter in the long history of Inverurie Fire Brigade began last night with the official opening of their new £156,000 fire station in Constitution Street.
Grampian Firemaster Douglas Close told a gathering of the brigade’s past and present part time firemen and their wives that the new station provided a great opportunity. He said: “We have a new building in which to operate and new techniques to learn. This will give the brigade’s morale and efficiency an extra boost.”
He said the brigade also had one new diesel tender with high pressure hoses as well as a refurbished vehicle. The replacing of the traditional siren with a radio paging system would mean a quicker and larger turnout at fires, he added. One of the problems with the siren had been that the number of firemen who heard it often depended on the direction of the wind.
Station Officer James Gerrard said later that other benefits the new station offered included a bigger hose drying tower and a larger drill yard.
Some of the former firemen said they wished they could turn the clock back and join up again. Mr. William Ramsay (65), 51 Kellands Road, Inverurie, who joined the town’s fire brigade in 1938 said the new station was “great”.
“It’s a far cry from my early days as a fireman. We used to have to push the pump on a hand barrow before we got a trailer unit which was pulled by one of the council’s vans.”
The brigade was housed in premises next to the Town House from 1940 until the new station, the last of the purpose built stations in Grampian Region, was completed in December last year.
During last night’s ceremony a 20 year’s service medal was presented by Mr. Close to Fireman Mr. Michael Ivory, 3 Kellands Avenue, Inverurie. Mr. Ivory is a guillotine operator at Thomas Tait paper mills.
(Press and Journal Wednesday, January 21, 1981. Page 3. LM edition)

 A new 2 bay station was opened in December 1980. Station Officially opened 20/1/1981.

2001 TSA980 is kept in the third bay.

2004 Reserve appliance kept in the third bay.

Station strength at September 2004 1 Station Officer, 4 Leading Firefighters, 8 Firefighters.

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