Technical Services

The Technical Services Department is one of three departments which come under the Service Support business stream, providing buildings, appliances, equipment and technical expertise to the other departments. These activities are co-ordinated from Headquarters at Blackness Road, Dundee under the leadership of the Head of Technical Services and managed by section heads who take responsibility for their own areas of expertise.

Property and Buildings

Our Facilities Manager is responsible for the development and maintenance of our twenty four properties sited throughout Tayside. This includes responsibility for energy conservation measures such as double glazing, wall insulation and lighting and heating management systems. Our major building works in recent years has been completed under a partnership scheme with our major contractor. This system has meant project have been completed on schedule with efficiency saving in the tendering and construction phases.

Technical Equipment and Appliances

Our Technical Manager supported by our Fleet Coordinator is responsible for specifying and purchasing replacement appliances and light vehicles in line with our fleet replacement policy. We have fifty emergency response appliances. When one is due for replacement an assessment is carried out to confirm a need for the vehicle. If that need is confirmed then a specification is prepared to ensure that the new appliance can meet the demands of an evolving service not just for the present but for perhaps the next fifteen years.

The care and maintenance for our vehicles and technical equipment is carried out by our workshops vehicle technicians who are based at headquarters, Blackness Road, Dundee. In addition to the vehicles, all fire and rescue equipment requires researching and specified before purchase to confirm that it is fit for purpose and meets the needs of our frontline men and women who are delivering services to the public. The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 widened the statutory responsibility that fire and rescue services in Scotland had for rescue particularly in area such as flooding, urban search and rescue and terrorist threats. Specialist equipment never previously used by local authority fire and rescue services in this country has now to be provided for dealing with such potential incidents. Our Technical Manager co-ordinates the research either in partnership with the other internal departments or more frequently with other Scottish fire and rescue services.

Information and Communications Technology

The design, specification, purchasing and maintenance of our ICT system is the responsibility of our ICT Manager who along with the rest of the ICT section is based at headquarters. We are particularly proud that Audit Scotland has identified our ICT network to be the most advanced of any fire and rescue service in Scotland. Every staff member now has access to email, intranet and internet accounts. The ICT staff are also responsible for development and maintenance of the telephone network and the all ICT involved in the call receipt and mobilising systems for Fire Control as well as the computer systems on board fire appliances for the provision of technical information at incidents.

Resources Centre and Purchasing

The Purchasing Manager is responsible for confirming that our purchasing procedures comply with our statutory obligations. The Resource Centre team act as the focal point for all goods and equipment coming in or going out of the organisation.

For more information about the Technical Services please telephone 01382 322222 and ask to speak to the Technical Services Watch Manager.

Technical Services Organisation Chart