The Scotsman above pushing the ill-informed scare story about fire service cuts in an evidence vaccuum.
Badly mixing my metaphors let me shine some light on that vacuum.
From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: March 2026 published today, the above and :
Number of fires fell 5% in the last year. In 2024-25, there were 22,925 fires in Scotland, down 5% on 2023-24 and the lowest in the last ten years. There were 36 fire fatalities in 2024-25, down from 42 in 2023-24 and the second lowest in the last decade.
The number of deliberate building fires has fallen over the last year while the number of deliberate road vehicle fires increased over the same period. There were 290 deliberate building fires in 2025-26 Q1, down from 302 in 2024-25 Q1. There were 229 deliberate road vehicle fires in 2025-26 Q1, up from 170 in 2024-25 Q1.
From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: August 2025:
Number of fires fell 10% in the last year. In 2023-24, there were 24,060 fires in Scotland, down 10% on 2022-23 and the lowest in the last ten years. There were 42 fire fatalities in 2023-24, down from 43 in 2022-23 and around the average for the last decade. https://www.gov.scot/publications/safer-communities-and-justice-statistics-monthly-data-report-august-2025/pages/statistics-on-community-safely/
Longer term, has the number of fires increased or decreased?
Domestic fires have plummeted by 50%in the last 2 years.
Non-domestic fires fell 34.7% in last 10 years.
Staffing trend?
An 18-20% staffing reduction set against a 50% reduction in domestic fires and a 35% reduction in non-domestic fires suggests a clear business case for fewer firefighters and one that the Herald would not have hesitated to make before 2007.
Here’s the Herald in 2003
Delegates of the Fire Brigades Union voted overwhelmingly to reject the offer to end their long-running dispute – probably leaving more members of the public feeling that the union wants to have its cake and eat it, too. Like the nurses (who nonetheless earn less), firefighters deserve more; not the 40% claim they submitted all those months ago, or a substantial deal of any kind that is not conditional on the adoption of flexible working and staffing arrangements. The FBU wisely decided yesterday not to strike before war with Iraq ends. Even then, if there is still no deal and more strike days are called, the FBU risks losing even more public support. The public will not want to see troops, who have been away from their families fighting a war, returning home to find leave cancelled or restricted so that Green Goddesses can be manned. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11903322.fire-fighters-should-settle-nurses-show-the-way-ahead-in-the-public-sector/
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Talking-up Scotland 
There has been far too many (non domestic) fires in Scotland in recent years…needs indepth investigation.
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insurance job
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