If you set out to design a fire and rescue service for Scotland, it is unlikely that you would come up with the current model of eight bodies, based roughly on the now defunct regional councils. In The Herald yesterday, Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, Paddy Tomkins, set out his vision for a single police force for Scotland. Today, Brian Sweeney, chief officer of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, suggests that a single national fire service would save many lives and a lot of money.

Similar ideas have been mooted before and rejected, but times change. The current financial crisis is driving radical restructuring in many private companies and inevitably the desire to maintain levels of service with static or shrinking budgets is informing the debate about public-sector reform.

When lives are at stake, caution must be the watchword and incremental change may be the best way. In Wales, fire services were reduced 10 years ago from eight to three to improve efficiency. In an emergency, local knowledge can be the difference between life and death.

It follows that there may be more enthusiasm for pooling management teams, finance departments and the like than eliminating the current regional network of control rooms. In fact, sometimes there may be a more coherent argument for sharing facilities between the different emergency services than between geographical areas. Such changes may be the logical extension of the increased sharing of equipment and expertise between existing services. If such reforms are the best way of keeping or increasing numbers working on the front line, they merit serious consideration.

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