Council extinguishes fears over fire service

COUNCILLOR MOLONEY ARGUED KERRY SERVICE IS NOT FULLY ROSTERED

Cllr Jimmy Moloney said there needs to be recognition of the serious issues affecting fire services in Kerry.

The Listowel based councillor tabled a motion at Monday’s meeting of Kerry County Council calling for a breakdown on the numbers of fire officers active each week during August and September.

He also asked how long stations in Tralee, Killarney and Listowel were reduced to one pump stations during this time. Cllr Moloney stated that to run a fire truck safely, upwards of seven personnel is required: a driver, an officer and five fire officers.

He believes fire officers are not being fully rostered in Kerry and, in relation to Listowel, cited two examples that ‘showed up’ this disparity: once during Listowel Races when only five fire personnel turned up at an incident and recently during an accident at Listowel Bridge that saw two fire trucks attend the scene with eight fire officers in one truck and only one officer occupying the second truck.

“I understand the recruitment is there but this brings its own issues as this can take up to a year. This is a very serious issue when fire crews have to come from another area because of a lack of staff,” he said.

The councillor claimed that Listowel is still a one tender station even though he was told in September this would only be for three weeks. He said the issue of ‘back up calls’ where fire crews attended fires in other areas is also of concern as this leaves some parts of the county without cover.

“This is putting the health and safety of the public and fire personal at risk as they don’t have sufficient numbers to attend house fires and road traffic accidents.”

In its response, council management said that presently all fire-fighters are rostered and available for duty. It stated that whenever a two tender station is reduced to one because of an emergency, the next tender from a neighbouring station is automatically mobilised.

During August and September, there were 85 incidents involving Tralee, Killarney and Listowel two-pump fire stations. In the case of 83 incidents, a sufficient number of personnel were in attendance. In the reaming two incidents, council management said five fire-fighters responded in a single tender as determined by the station officer.

“All of our fire officers are available so it can’t be said some are and some are not available. We’ve had to reduce on certain occasions. We are going through a recruitment process at present which won’t be on the road for about a year.”

Cllr Moloney felt that clarity was still needed as the numbers attending incidents in Listowel did not, in his view, tally with his understanding of a roster (which means seven fire personnel would run one fire engine with another seven on standby).

However, council management stated a cross-cover arrangement is in place and that it operates on the basis of having fire fighters on call to respond. Moreover, depending on the classification of the incident, different responses are acceptable by the Chief Fire Officer’s perspective.

Cll Jimmy Moloney.