Chief Fire Officer Stephen Hunter last week launched a consultation proposal which would result in Tayside Fire and Rescue's resources being used in a more productive, more effective way.

And that proposal could see a full-time day-shift crew being based at Forfar fire station and an additional day-shift crew for Perth.

"This proposal will enable us to deliver our community safety and emergency response services in a more effective way, thereby making all of our communities safer," commented Mr Hunter.

"We have worked over recent years to identify the most effective use of all our resources and this proposal is the culmination of this work. This work has been carried out with the full involvement of the councillors from Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross Councils, who are members of Tayside Fire and Rescue Board."

In addition to the plans for Forfar and Perth, the current arrangements at Balmossie fire station in east Dundee would change with the 24-hour full-time provision being replaced by a full-time day-shift crew, and the night time provision being provided by the part-time firefighters already working at Balmossie.

The Chief Fire Officer stressed that this work was about providing more effective services within existing resource and financial constraints.

"This is not about providing more resources and, probably more importantly, it is not about providing less resources.

"This work has been about identifying how we can use our existing resources to best effect to increase the safety of the communities we serve from fire and other emergencies.

"This proposal will result in firefighters being available to deliver community safety initiatives for over 21,000 hours per year more than at present. This increased community safety commitment will be used to drive down the risks within our communities even further than we are achieving at present.

"This proposal will also result in more full-time crewed fire engines being available to respond to fires and other emergencies over the period of greatest demand and at locations which can more effectively respond to that demand.

"Tayside Fire and Rescue is committed to the highest standard of provision of community safety and emergency response services and this proposal builds on our already solid platform of performance in these important areas of our service delivery."

The consultation process commenced last week, with the chief discussing the proposal with fire and rescue service trade union representatives and service managers informing on-duty personnel.

It is understood that the part-time members at Forfar were briefed on the proposals when they met for their weekly training night last Wednesday.

The chief also plans to deliver presentations to a wider group of stakeholders, including the three constituent councils, Tayside MPs and MSPs, community councils and, importantly, interested members of the public.

Vice-convener of Tayside Fire and Rescue Board John Whyte, Councillor for Monifieth and Sidlaw, whose ward will be directly affected by the changes at Balmossie, said: "Tayside Fire and Rescue Board is committed to delivering the highest standard of community safety and emergency response services to all of the communities within Tayside.

"I believe that this proposal, in its entirety, offers the best balance between preventing fires and other emergencies from happening in the first place and providing the optimum emergency response cover for when emergencies occur, whilst achieving value for money for our tax paying communities".