Ballater

Ballater Community Fire Station is a former Grampian Fire and Rescue Service station situated in Aberdeenshire. The station has two bays and operates on a retained duty basis. Ballater is one of only three stations in Scotland to have a '10-man pump'. This type of pump was developed by the Grampian Fire Brigade to carry a crew of 10 instead of the standard six. In addition to the unique 10-person system, Ballater's pump is also the only operational Dennis fire engine in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, as well as being the only white Dennis in the UK.

 

To support the larger crew, the pump has an additional Officer In Charge (OIC) and extra equipment. It is also capable of responding alone to some incidents that would typically require two crews due to the extra personnel and equipment. The only other stations that facilitate such an appliance are Buckie and Turriff.

 

Ballater also operates a prime mover, utilizing a hook-lift system the prime mover can load and unload modules to be transported to incidents. Ballater utilizes a forestry module which is a flatbed pod designed to transport their Polaris all-terrain vehicle (ATV), the ATV carries 6 people and can support a rear payload of 794kg. 

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Stonehaven has level 2 swift water rescue capabilities, which are also known as 'Flood First Responder' capabilities. This means that while most stations are unable to enter water, L2 water rescue teams can enter water with wading poles. However, they are not allowed to swim, and the water cannot be deep or fast-flowing. Level 2 water rescue is generally intended for shallow waters and flooding incidents.