With the new brigade structure introduced in the summer of 2003 the 3 Divisions were re-organised into 2 Commands North and South, Thurso was put into North Command. Call signs remained the same.

STATION STAFF

Fourteen retained men man the Thurso station - Station Officer W. Mackay, Sub Officer D. Mackay, Leading Firemen W. Macdonald and L. Gray, Firemen T. Davidson, W. Ross, S. Wares, C. Stevens, D. Henderson, W. Sutherland, J. Mowat, D. Malcolm, G. Mackay and C. Johnston. Also stationed at Thurso are two full time officers - Divisional Officer J. Simpson and Station Officer D. Grant, the division's training officer.
Divisional Officer Simpson said that the station's roll could be raised to twenty men. He prefers to have firemen join before they reach their early thirties, thus giving the maximum in experience and length of service. retiral age is 60.
The town's firemen, he went on, trained every Thursday evening and some members attended Gullane training school courses.
Twice a year they are trained to cope with the type of fire they might encounter at Dounreay, by firemaster Mr J. Thomson.
Firemen are also responsible for the area's fire hydrants.
Part time firemen receive a retaining fee every quarter plus a turn out fee. The full turn out fee is only paid to those who man the outgoing appliance. Once the engine has left the station - on an average this is within two minutes of the alarm being raised - the firemen on standby are paid a smaller sum. A gratuity scheme has recently been started.
District officer Simpson pointed out that the Northern Area Fire Brigade was one of the cheapest run in Britain.
And, in his opinion, the public were receiving "the best value for money."
When someone needs the services of the Fore Brigade and dials 999, their call is put through to the Northern Area headquarters in Inverness. Headquarters then call up the appropriate station by means of a remote control system which sets off the fire siren and bells in the firemen's homes.
The yearly average for turnouts by the fire brigade is between fifty and sixty - but last month, the town's firemen attended sixteen fires.
"We have been very fortunate that in the last few years there has only been one fatality," said Mr Simpson. He thought that the most noteworthy outbreaks during his seven years in Thurso were at Castlehill, Castletown, and the double fire at a wood yard in Thurso and the town's gasworks.
The Divisional Officer, who for 16 years before coming to Thurso, was stationed in central Scotland, said that he gained certain satisfaction from working with retained men rather than full time firemen.
"Perhaps the fact that the retained firemen is coping with his full time job and is still willing to be called out to a fire day and night has something to do with it," he explained.
The only problem that a full time station do not have to contend with was the question of availability.
Often part time firemen may be working out of town and so be unable to answer the alarm.
But, explained Mr Simpson, "Although each station is an individual unit, fundamentally it is the Northern Area Fire Brigade and covers or assists another brigade as required."

NEW STATION

He also spoke of Wick's new fire station being built at Martha Terrace.
"Wick has waited a long, long time for a fire station and when it is completed it will be the finest station outwith Inverness, in the Northern Area Fire Brigade," he said.
The new station will contain a drill tower, a hose washing and testing strip and other refinements.
At present Wick fire brigade are operating from Miller Street.
The northern division's representative on the Northern Fire Area Joint Committee, Bailie W. Smith, Thurso, has made great efforts to get Wick its new station.
Bailie Smith was a member of Thurso fire brigade from 1946 to 1948.
Retained stations within the northern area compete every year for the Squad Drill shield and the Stornoway Cup, awarded to the winners of a quiz on fire fighting.
Eight teams are entered each year.
Thurso teams of four years ago were the first to bring off the double.

GOOD OLD DAYS

When one sees Thurso's immaculate fire station with it's two gleaming engines, it is hard to see imagine the equipment used by the Town Council workers over thirty years ago - a hand cart containing a ladder, hoses and buckets.
With the outbreak of World War II, the Auxiliary Fire Service was formed and the Council purchased three pumps which were operated by Mr J. Barnetson and his crew.
The Unit's transport then consisted of a converted Humber saloon, later it was a Lanchester that had once belonged to the Duke of Portland.
Full time crews from Aberdeen were then stationed in Thurso and two auxiliary firemen assisted them each night - at the rate of 1s 6d an hour.
By 1942 the National Fire Service had been formed and Thurso received a standard towing unit. Our photograph shows an N.F.S. war time crew.
A year after the 1947 Fire Services Act became law, the Northern Fire brigade came into being.
Thurso's firemen were originally housed at the Riverside. They then moved to premises, which they built themselves, at Shore Street, where there is now a car park, before their present station was erected in Millbank Road.
(Caithness Courier, April 16, 1969.)

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