MSP Jackie Baillie has urged the Scottish Government to step in and delay the decision on the future of Helensburgh Fire Station.

The politician called on Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Neil Gray, to halt the “potentially devastating” changes, while he consults with the Fire Brigades Union.

During the exchange in Holyrood, the Dumbarton MSP also called on the Cabinet Secretary to force the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to publish responses to the public consultation on the move, in full.

It comes after the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service announced the intention to push through the unpopular changes at stations, including Helensburgh, on Monday.

The move, earlier branded “dangerous” by Jackie, will see Helensburgh Fire Station switch to on-call crewing only between 6pm and 8am.

Scottish Fire and Rescue chiefs announced last week that the option will be taken forward for decision at their forthcoming board meeting on June 22nd.

Their proposal set out last year is that the ‘Wholetime’ station – manned by crews 24/7 – could move to a ‘Day Crewing’ model, as part of the Service Delivery Review.

Residents, Firefighters and MSP Jackie, all expressed their opposition to the move.

A public consultation then ran from June to September, ahead of an anticipated decision in January.

However, fire chiefs cynically delayed the decision until after the Scottish Parliamentary election on May 7th.

Documents published on Monday (June 15th), revealed that the crewing changes at Helensburgh look set to be nodded through by the board next week.

Jackie, also Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader, urged the Cabinet Secretary to step in, during the exchange at Portfolio Questions on Wednesday, saying: “The proposals for Hawick and Helensburgh Fire Stations are essentially the same.

“It is a move to a day-shift duty system, relying on on call firefighters at night and at the weekends. Attendance for on-call shifts drops off dramatically and leads to delays in crews attending incidents, with potentially devastating results.”

She received the brush-off from the Cabinet Secretary, who insisted that day crewing already operates successfully in Livingston and added that there are no issues scrambling retained crews during evenings and weekends.

Data obtained by the MSP indicates that there is a historic difficulty with turnout amongst retained firefighters in Helensburgh during unsociable hours.

MSP Jackie Baillie said: I am disappointed but not surprised that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service look set to push through this unpopular decision.

“I have been clear since the announcement of the Service Delivery Review, that these changes are dangerous and will negatively impact on communities.

“It is frustrating that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service look not to have taken the genuine concerns voiced on board.

“This decision beggars belief, given that Helensburgh is the nearest wholetime fire station to Faslane and Coulport and given the well-documented difficulties which already exist with on-call crewing.”

She added: “This decision results entirely from the failure of the SNP Scottish Government to properly resource our public services.”

Hundreds of residents signed up to an online petition run by the MSP, who also staffed a stall at Helensburgh’s popular market in a bid to gauge local views on the plans.

She had also backed a cross-party letter from MSPs and the Fire Brigades’ Union, last September, as well as tabling a motion in Holyrood earlier this month, calling on both the Scottish Government and the SFRS to reconsider the move. SFRS chiefs had been due to take a decision on the matter in January, but it was running behind schedule, before finally being postponed until after the May Scottish Parliamentary election – a move branded “cynical”.