Three King’s Fire Service Medals awarded on His Majesty’s Birthday Honours

Chief Officer Ross Haggart, who lives in Perth, Crew Commander Gary Carroll, based in Aberdeenshire, and on call Firefighter Lorraine Taylor from Argyll and Bute have been recognised for Distinguished Service. 

Chief Officer Haggart took up his latest post in March last year after holding the role on an interim basis for several months. 

He has held a range of roles since first becoming a firefighter in 1994, at the age of 20, working across the Tayside and Fife areas. 

He has two daughters Brooke, 19, and Robyn, 17 with his wife Debbie, who is a principal teacher. 

Ross' journey with SFRS is shortly coming to an end after recently announcing his intention to retire. 

He continued: "I would like to thank everyone for their support throughout the past thirty years. It's been a privilege to dedicate my life and career to keeping communities safe. I know the Service has a strong sense of direction that will continue into the future." 

Firefighter Lorraine Taylor started her career with SFRS as a 22-year-old joining the crew at Tarbert Community Fire Station in Argyll and Bute. She became one of Scotland’s first female on call firefighters and is now one of the longest serving.  

She took on the role of Diversity Champion to promote her role to encourage other women to consider it as a career.  

She continued:“You have helped someone when they needed you and you feel as if you have made a difference. Community work is also such an important part of the role, it builds relationships and allows us to help keep people safe.” 

On call firefighters step up to protect their local communities when they are most needed and answer emergency calls when alerted by their pager. They often have primary employment and Lorraine also works as a Port Assistant for Calmac. 

The area she serves can involve anything from hill fires to road traffic accidents. She also works within her local community to raise awareness of water safety in schools.  

She has also helped organise many charity events, which have raised over £60,000 for The Fire Fighters Charity and many local projects. Every year she helps to build a Christmas tree from fish creels and Santa visits local children in a fire engine.  

Crew Commander Carroll has spent significant time supporting International Search and Rescue (ISAR) teams working as a dog handler.  

He has been deployed overseas on four separate occasions, most recently to assist in Morocco following an earthquake last year. He was also part of teams mobilised to earthquakes in Sumatra in Indonesia in 2009, Christchurch in 2011, and Nepal in 2015.

Gary first became interested in the dog handler role twenty years ago and began training his dog Diesel, eventually becoming fully qualified. Gary and Diesel were soon put to work in the Service. This was the first ever K9 team in the SFRS. He currently works with search dog Coorie. 

Gary started his career as an on call firefighter in Aberdeenshire in 1993 before becoming a wholetime firefighter in 1999. After several years working operationally, he moved into the research and development team, before joining the training team to support new and experienced firefighters. 

He is hugely proud to receive a King's Fire Service Medal.

He continued: “I have worked with many great individuals throughout my career, and I would like to thank my wife for her unlimited support and backing along with my family, fellow firefighters and ISAR team members for their support over the years.”