Commenting on the Accounts Commission report looking at the future of fire and rescue services in Scotland, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie MSP said:
"The forty recommendations from this report should be an amber warning to the Scottish Government. They need to get a grip of the centralisation of Scotland's fire services following this critical report from the Account Commission.
"Scotland's fire services already face some massive challenges with the recruitment of retained fire fighters and the effective implementation of IRMP (Integrated Risk Management Planning) and this report confirms that centralisation won't make those challenges any easier.
"The SNP have got a lot of work to do to convince us that they will be ready for the start date of next April for the centralised fire service. They must get a grip to ensure that we continue to be safe and secure."