Call-out incident prompts Dundalk fire station staffing level fears

Serious concerns have been raised over adequate staffing levels at Dundalk fire station following an incident which was highlighted over the weekend.

In a letter addressed to the county’s Chief Fire Officer, Eamon Woulfe, local man Mr Ollie McAleavey said that he was told by a member of the local fire brigade that attended a tumble dryer fire at a house in Greenacres, Dundalk on Saturday, that due to an ongoing call-out to a road traffic accident on the M1 motorway at the same time, the local station was left without sufficient crew to deal with the subsequent tumble dryer fire call-out, as two units were already at the M1 incident.

According to Mr McAleavey, he was told this meant a crew from Drogheda had to be requested to deal with the tumble dryer fire -  crews from Ardee and Dunleer stations were also at the M1 incident - which had started in a shed at the back of the house in Dundalk.

Explaining what he was told by a member of the fire crew at the scene, Mr McAleavey added: “When they get a call-out like they did, there is nobody to cover the station or the town while they are gone, they have retainers [retained fire staff - part-time and on-call], but not enough to fulfil a crew, so since four appliances from three different stations are out, it leaves (it) that Drogheda are the cover - who are 20 miles away.”

The Democrat contacted Mr Woulfe for a response, who said that he had not received the email in question, but, upon reading it, added: “The Fire Brigade was called to this incident at 18.37.”

Mr McAleavey clarified that the first call was made at 18.11 and again at 18.18 - leaving a 50 minute response time, with the fire tender’s arrival at 19.00, he says.

Mr Woulfe said that, according to the Section 26 Plan provided by Louth County Council: “When one or more brigades are in attendance at an incident and a second incident occurs, the next fire appliance(s) on the pre-determined attendance mobilise to this incident. This is the norm in all counties.”

However, Mr McAleavey revealed that he was told cut-backs were an issue. 

“I questioned why I can see at least eight appliances in Dundalk station and why can't they be manned. I was told that this has been the case for the last eight years with cut-backs. He explained that when you make a 999 call that central control at Tara Street in Dublin will dispatch the nearest tender to you, which in our case was Drogheda. Upon hearing this, the water pump from Dundalk left the crash scene and responded, but it was 50 minutes later, not even near good enough!”

He has called for urgent answers in light of the incident.

“Why there is no cover for the town of Dundalk in the event of a call-out to Dundalk station? And what exactly would happen in the event of a serious situation happening like a significant fire in an apartment block for instance or a serious road crash?”

In recent months Louth County Council have heavily advertised vacancies for retained fire crew at five stations in the county, including Ardee, Carlingford, Drogheda, Dundalk and Dunleer.

In relation to Saturday’s tumble dryer incident, Mr McAleavey said there was a positive ending: “I was close by thankfully and got there within minutes. A tumble dryer in the shed was alight  and I extinguished it using a fire extinguisher as per training I have received through my work.”