Scotland's top firefighter says he has no concerns over a loss of local knowledge as a result of the fire service shutting its northern control rooms.

Whistleblowers have warned the closure of 999 call centres in Aberdeen and Inverness will endanger lives and put greater pressure on firefighters.

They claim the Dundee control room, which now handles emergency calls from north of Scotland, is undermanned and unprepared to handle the extra workload.

Chief officer Alasdair Hay told STV News the new system will make people safer.

He said: "For me this is about professional knowledge and here in Dundee we have staff from all of the previous control rooms in the north.

"They have an average service of 15 years - some have over 35 years - and when you ally that experience to the technology that we have brought into play here we have no concerns at all about that loss of local knowledge."

Five staff members transferred from Aberdeen to Dundee when the city's control room shut last month and only two are believed to have moved from Inverness on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service insisted that there has been no loss of local knowledge as a result of the overhaul.

Work is still under way on the fire service's expanded Dundee control centre and staff will work out of cabins in the grounds of the building until it is ready in March.

Mr Hay added: "This is not just a cost-cutting measure - this represents an investment of £10m in our command and control infrastructure.

"This will provide state-of-the-art command and control facilities for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and will make the people of Scotland safer."

"This is a proven model - we had a regional control room effectively in the old Strathclyde area which covered 12 local authorities, including the Inner Hebrides and Glasgow."

The closure of the fire service's northern control rooms are part of a programme to reduce the total number of call centres from eight to three.

About £50m has been cut from the national fire service's budget since it was created in 2013.

Its Dumfries call centre shut in late 2014, followed by Thornton in Fife and Maddiston in Falkirk earlier this year. Facilities in Edinburgh, Dundee and Renfrewshire will remain open.

The fire service previously estimated switching to a unified call-handling system across the remaining control rooms would save £2.3m and cost 60 jobs.

"I've been in the fire service for nearly 34 years and I see my number one duty always as to save life," Mr Hayes said.

"There are no actions that I would sanction that would jeopardise the lives of the people of Scotland. I have no doubt at all that it will be safe going forward."

"We do not plan to fail," he added.