Members of the Fire Brigades Union are gathering in Glenrothes town centre as four firefighting appliances are set to be temporarily removed across Fife.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members are looking to gather support as they oppose the removal of pumps from Glenrothes, Methil and Kirkcaldy, as well as a height appliance in Dunfermline.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) are temporarily removing the appliances as they try to deal with £11million of budget cuts.
The SFRS said the appliances are "second and third appliances" and that "the communities of Fife can still expect a fully crewed fire appliance to an emergency as they currently would."
Second and third appliances can "at times be unavailable for a number of reasons."
Risk to Firefighters
However, Chris Murphy, the FBU's Vice Chair for the East of Scotland "The impact of losing these appliances will be significant.
"A dwelling fire - a house fire - has a predetermined attendance of two fire engines. They would bring an appliance each, and would normally leave the same station and arrive at roughly the same time.
"The first appliance would come with five firefighters and the second would come with four.
"If you remove the second appliances - the second pumps - from Glenrothes and from Methil, the next available one is at least fifteen to twenty minutes away in Kirkcaldy or Lochgelly.
"Five firefighters to fight a house fire is not adequate. Early intervention is important as fires spread swiftly.
"If they can't put in safe systems of work we risk losing a property, a livelihood or even the individuals in the property. It also puts a significant risk on the Firefighters themselves, who have a moral and emotional obligation to do something, to potentially save life."
'Least Impact to Services'
Assistant Chief Officer David Farries is the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's Director of Service Delivery.
He said: “We need to modernise our service to protect communities and deliver value for money.
"Following a review, from September we are temporarily removing up to ten appliances from locations where we know there will be the least impact to services.
“We'll also be relocating a number of vehicles that operate at height and some of our ageing height vehicles will be taken off the run on a phased basis.
“These changes will be monitored and reviewed.
“As a national service, we operate as a network and our Operations Control staff always work to mobilise the closest and most appropriate resource so that our crews continue to attend every emergency."
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