Trainee firefighters complete training phase

SCOTLAND’s next generation of firefighters have taken a step closer to joining the service after completing a crucial stage of their training in East Lothian.

More than 70 trainees came through 13 weeks of intensive training at the Scottish Fire Services College in Gullane, where they demonstrated their skills to family and friends yesterday.

The trainees also raised more than £6000 for charity with a sponsored ladder climb “to the top of Mount Everest”.

The new firefighters now face another few weeks’ preparational training before joining crews across the new single Scottish service next month.

Community Safety Minister Roseanna Cunningham congratulated the new recruits.

She said: “These graduates are the future of fire and rescue in Scotland and I wish them well as they embark upon their careers at what is an exciting time to be finishing their training.

“Each and every one of them will have an important role to play when our new single fire and rescue service launches in just a few weeks.”

Trainee firefighter Siana Hughes said: “A large part of this experience is about becoming part of a collective, a group of individuals who arrived here with similar goals and a desire to serve the communities in which they live.”