As the City of Edinburgh prepares to welcome the Queen’s Baton ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow officers from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have urged people to celebrate safely.
Tomorrow the baton will begin a 40 day tour of 400 communities across Scotland. It follows a 190,000km round-the-world journey that saw it stop in 70 nations and territories over six continents. The baton will visit Edinburgh, Livingston, Dalkeith, Musselburgh and finish at Hawick on 18 June . Residents, like others throughout the country, are set to mark the Queen’s Baton Relay in style.
Area Manager John Dickie, the SFRS local senior officer, said: “The Queen’s baton relay begins its journey around Scotland in the City of Edinburgh this Saturday. The City will play host to a number of fantastic events and we would like to celebrate safely, with the communities of Edinburgh, sending the Baton off round the Country as the opening of the Games approaches.
“The arrival of the baton in the area is a once-in-a-lifetime event and we want to make sure it’s remembered for the right reasons.
“If anyone is planning to host a street party then it’s vital that they tell the local council, as this lets them work with us to make sure firefighters know about street closures and can use alternative routes to get to any emergencies. We can all become distracted and it only takes a second for a potentially devastating fire to start, so it’s vital that we never walk away from a cooker or barbeque that’s in use.
“Anyone who is having a barbeque should make sure it’s located well clear of things like fences, sheds or trees – and everyone should recognise that cooking and alcohol is a lethal mix.“
A wide-range of advice on how people can celebrate safely is available on the SFRS website, www.firescotland.gov.uk, which has a dedicated section for Glasgow 2014.
Information on when the baton will visit a city, town or village near you can be found on theGlasgow 2014 website at https://www.glasgow2014.com/join/queens-baton-relay/qbr-domestic-route.
The final destination of the Queen’s Baton Relay will be Glasgow, where on the 23 July the message Her Majesty The Queen placed in the baton will be read at the Opening Ceremony of the XX Commonwealth Games.
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