Fire services affected by staff shortages

TWO fire appliances in the ‘Bravo’ division of Dublin Fire Brigade, which covers Dolphin’s Barn and Tallaght fire stations, were kept off the road recently due to staff shortages, a local councillor has claimed.

According to the information received by Workers’ Party Dublin City Councillor, Éilis Ryan, this reduced the number of fire brigades in the area available to respond to emergency calls by 50 per cent.

 “I am extremely concerned, but unfortunately not surprised, to learn that 50 per cent of the fire brigades in the ‘Bravo’ division of Dublin Fire Brigade were unable to operate this morning (July 13) due to staff shortages,” Cllr Ryan said.

“The city’s fire service is already at a critical low point because of repeated cutbacks to both appliances and staffing. This is just the latest incident.” 

 Cllr Ryan said that “ordinary occurrences” like sickness and holiday leave should be planned for and factored into staffing requirements.

“The approach consistently taken by national and local government has been to reduce service levels to a bare minimum, so that there is no ability to cope with these situations,” she stated.

 “It’s not unique to the emergency services – we’ve seen the same happen with public transport, healthcare and in education. But the difference here is that a human life could be lost.

“And inevitably, the response from some quarters will be to privatise the service.”

Cllr Ryan added: “Twenty new recruits is little comfort when we have decades of staffing cutbacks to reverse. Its almost as if the recession was used as an excuse to drive through cutbacks that those in charge intend to keep in place indefinitely.”

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said the Fire Brigade was committed to providing the highest level of public safety services for all communities.

“We do all we can to ensure we deliver the best possible service to the community through well trained, dedicated, competent, hardworking and safe fire fighters,” the spokesperson said. “A negotiated joint union/management staffing arrangement is in place and is designed to help ensure full staffing of all appliances at all times. The staffing numbers are currently at the agreed levels.

“On a number of occasions, the desired operational crewing levels may not be achieved. A long-standing arrangement to supplement these vacancies via non-compulsory overtime exists. However, occasionally full crewing levels may not be achieved because of non-availability of personnel on overtime. Where this happens an agreed process to reduce the impact takes place.”

The spokesperson added: “This process is designed to help minimise the impact on both the community and fire fighter safety and on occasion may necessitate the temporary withdrawal from service of certain appliances. This action while infrequent is regrettable and is managed to reduce the impact to a minimum.”

The spokesperson added: “Fire Brigade management are in discussion with the trade unions to review the existing manning levels. A new recruit class is undergoing training and when completed will supplement the existing numbers.”