The volunteer firefighters keeping Scottish rural communities safe

Kelly McSporran first became involved with the fire service when she was just 13, rising through the youth volunteer ranks before joining the on-call roster when she turned 20.

She is now a full-time employee of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, heading up the youth system of which she was once a member.

But she remains a retained firefighter – one of 2,735 in Scotland.

The 31-year-old is called upon to make up crew numbers at seven fire stations in Argyll and she commits her evenings and weekends to being on call.

“On my crew we have an HGV driver, paramedics, office workers and even some whisky distillery employees,” said Kirsty, who is based in Campbeltown.

In order to attend a call out, each station must have a minimum of five crew members available, meaning the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is always on the look out for more volunteers to join its rosters, external.

She said the service was looking for a diverse range of people to join.