A new local senior officer has been appointed to oversee the Borders, East Lothian and Midlothian areas.

Area Commander Marc Pincombe, who has nearly 29 years of service with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), has taken on the role.

Mr Pincombe said: "Public service has always appealed. It fits my values.

"You are turning up when people are having the worst day of their lives, and you are there to make it better."

He started his career as a firefighter in 1995 in his hometown of Stirling after filling in the coupon in The Stirling Observer.

His various roles have included Crew Commander, Watch Commander, training instructor, and part of the Operational Intelligence, Central Staffing, and People teams.

He was involved in Glasgow’s COP26 and maintaining operational staffing levels during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He has 21 years of frontline experience, having attended fires, explosions, industrial incidents, flooding, and water and line rescues.

Mr Pincombe led the SFRS response to a widespread flooding incident two years ago which affected areas across the north of Scotland.

He said: “Care homes were flooded, dog walkers missing, families were on top of cars and in houses with flood water coming in through their windows.

"When you join the Service, you don't know what you are going to - but you are ready to respond, and you apply the skills you have learned.

“We are still involved with recovery to get back to normality. Work never stops even when the emergency part is over and that is a core value of the SFRS, we continue to provide support to the community – pre, during and post incident.”

He looks forward to getting involved in local initiatives.

He said: "Our communities have changed, and the Service is adapting to support communities through our prevention work.

"We are always innovative, with public safety at our heart.

"We are also across three local authority areas, and we will work together to understand the common and unique needs of each area.”

His area also includes four full-time fire stations and 18 on-call fire stations.

He said: “It’s a diverse rural area, served by a large on call community, who often go above and beyond to protect their local communities.

"They are critical to the Service and I’m looking forward to working with them.

Mr Pincombe is married to Louise, a retired firefighter, and they have two children, Lewis, 20, and Ross, 19.

He enjoys walking their dog, hill walking, cycling, and watching his local football team, Stirling Albion.