Thursday January 01 1970
Wicklow has no full-time fire service.
wicklow |
miscellaneous |
event notice 
Friday November 17, 2006 18:16
by Blood
Public meeting at Cois Sleibhe Community Centre
I was recently handed this leaflet and thought it might be of interest to your readers.
Public meeting at Cois Sleibhe Community Centre, Southern Cross Road, Bray.
When: Monday 20 November, 8pm.
Speakers: Siobhan Kearney (Stardust relative), Norman Campbell (Fire Safety Regulation Expert), and Carmel McKenna (People before Profit Alliance). You will have the opportunity to have your say!
The Problems
Despite huge economic and population growth, N.Wicklow still lacks a full time fire service and has only a 'retained fire service' part-timers who are no substitute for a full-time professional service.
The N.Wicklow emergency plan has not been up-dated since 1998. According to the Fire Services Act an emergency plan should be up-dated yearly and on public display. Bray and N. Wicklow have not changed a lot since 1998.
The frantic pace of building means inadeqaute regulations certification and management of fire safety features, in defiance of current regulations (1997 Technical Document 'B' 1981 Fire Services Act: 1990 Building Control Act, etc). Fire safety in buildings has effectively been ignored in Ireland since the Stardust disaster, Valentine's Day 1981.
What Do We Want
Full-time fire and emergency service for N.Wicklow.
100% compliance with building and fire regulations.
A proper Fire Safety Certificate system.
Full maintenance and inspection of all hydrants, whose locations must be clearly indicated.
Fire cavity barriers must be a priority in housing to stop the spread of flames, smoke and fumes.
Spot checks/inspections 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, on all places of public assembly and valid fire safety certificates in full public view to be renewed annually.
An emergency plan for the County Council area to be updated annually.
Comments (11 of 11)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11The fact that North Wicklow has no full-time fire service is a scandal. When you think of all the money that our government has wasted with e-voting and the port tunnel fiascos, it makes you wonder what the hell is going in the Dail. Where does Dick Roche stand on this issue? I thought Bray and Wicklow are his neck of the woods. What is he going to do about this? Nothing I suspect. What a bunch of wasters we have running our affairs. Why should we vote for a man who seems not to give a damn about the safety of his constituents with regard to the possibilty of many preventable deaths due to inadeqaute fire regulations and the lack of a full-time fire service. I mean no offence to the brave men and women who work in a part-time capacity looking out for our safety and putting their lives at risk, they should be comended for their work. Once again our political masters show their true colours, their negilence and utter contempt for the people who put them in power. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Dick you will not get my vote, you can take that one to the bank with ya.
I was very interested in reading the comments about this. I am a Sub Station Officer in the Retained Fire Service and I would just like to point out a few things.
1/ Most of Ireland is covererd by the Retained Fire Service not just Wicklow.
2/ The Retained Fire Service has the same training and qualifications as the whole time Fire Service so saying that the service is sub standard because of the training or skill of the firefighters is not only untrue but insulting to the firefighters who risk their lives daily.
3/ There are problems in the Retained Fire Service that does make the service sub standard. The main one being that in the event of an MVA (motor vehicle accident or car crash) that depending on what county you live in you may or may not get the service you need. Some counties ( my neighbouring county being one of the worst ) do not have in place an automatic turnout for all required emergency services to MVA calls. What this means that if you are involved in, or report an MVA to the Gardai or the Ambulance service what will happen is ( and I have seen this happen) the Gardai will arrive on scene ( generic time about 15 minutes) , then they will call an ambulance ( depending on where the MVA is and the distance from the Ambulance base, the time to on scene can be anything from 5 minutes to an hour) , when the ambulance arrives on scene then they call the fire service who may have beenthe closest emergency service to the incident. Most Irish Retained Fire Authorities have trained firefighters up to the medical grade of EMFR (emergengy medical first responders this is soon to be changed to EMT by the PHECC) and the firefighters can give primary medical assistance.
The Fire Service on the other hand, has the protocol in place that if Fire Control recieves a call for an MVA that all emergency services are automatically notified,
I would have thought that any community that elects Dick Roche doesn't deserve a fire service or much else. Roche is a cheerleader for the "everyman for himself" ideology. Can't you put your own fire out? Dick will be disappointed with you!
I am shocked at the death of the two firemen in Bray yesterday and my prayers and sympathy go to the families. I am much more shocked that Bray has only a part time service. In saying this I do not disparage the part time services who serve us so well but surely a town the size of Bray (and surrounding area) should have a full time service - even a small one that would go out immediately to any fire with back up from a part time service.
I hope and pray that these deaths will achieve something worthwhile.
After all there are priorities and priorities. We don't have heart ambulances per 20,000 people. We haven't reached an average of one tribunal per year. We don't spend more than however much it was per kid despite it being scientifically proven giving them an advantage would put notions in their head & thus more dangerous criminals.
And now you want presidential live TV addresses? Now you want a radical new Labour?
Now you want tree hugging government junior coalition partner Greenies talking forest fires?
IF only you whingers had emigrated long ago we'd have lifeboats of our own.
All due respect & condolences to the families of the firemen who died yesterday
Maybe the reason we have so many volunteer firefighters is because so many people volunteer to fight fires. If fewer people volunteered would our government be forced to employ full-time staff?
Chicken'n egg innit?
Retained fire fighters are NOT volunteer. We are paid to do the professional job that we do.
The point still stands though. If there were no retained wouldnt the government have no choice but to hire fulltime? (I have no problem with retained services personally)
Mightn't be a bad idea to canvass the one's in the know ( wink wink ) out in Bray in order to provide a valuable fire service
24/7 to the population of Bray & it's surrounding area's , surely the politicians ( out there ) can take a break from corruption
duties & start to build something of immediate value instead of their usual duties of breaking local values , to include local
pillars of society who smirk their way through life at the cost to many .
For an example of , please go to www.Rate-your-solicitor.com , click 'wicklow' and view local solicitors who have been ably
rated by genuine people , some of whom had a great experience and others who have had nightmare experience's .
The above mentioned should give local people a 'taste' of which way the wind is blowing .
A sick county with sick people.Hail mary full of grace give me the power to tie my lace
all you lot do is talk crap you drag a few guys who were in bray fire brigade 10 years ago or who have been in it a few months and you listen to them they know jack shit .abunch of part timers how dare you. that really went down well with the lads .
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