Twelve new fire fighters needed in County Roscommon

Seven new fire fighters are currently undergoing training in County Roscommon, but an additional 12 new members of the fire service still need to be recruited and trained. This recruitment process is currently live, according to Roscommon County Council.

The news was given to councillors during a discussion on the fire services in the county where there were renewed calls for the re-opening if Castlerea Fire Station

Councillors were told at a recent council meeting that the town of Castlerea and its surrounding environs continued to be adequately covered by fire services. The town’s fire station was closed in 2017.

Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice asked the council to give an update on the implementation of the revised service model for retained firefighters in County Roscommon and use the revised service model to reopen Castlerea Fire Station.

As part of its response, the council said that the revised service model for retained fire fighters created an additional 13 new positions in Roscommon, bringing staff numbers from 47 to 60 across five fire stations.

“There are currently seven new fire fighters undergoing training and an additional 12 new recruits still need to be recruited and trained. This recruitment process is currently live,” the council’s written response said.

It added that payment for fire fighters would move from a quarterly to fortnightly basis.

“The model involves moving to a rostered on duty period of 24 weeks per annum,” it added. "The Castlerea fire ground continues to be adequately covered within national standards."

Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice expressed disappointment at the response.

“We had a revised service model for fire fighters and I had hoped that once that model was rolled out Castlerea Fire Station would be reconsidered for staff. I am disappointed by the answer,” he said.

He said that there was concern about the expense of reopening the station but he said that the Government would cover the cost of a considerable number of the required firefighters.

“If a case was made to the Government, I think that the whole cost could be considered by Government. I am sure they would be open to that request. We still have the reality that Castlerea is 27 minutes away from a fire station in County Roscommon,” he said. He added that the Ballaghaderreen Fire Station does a great job when attending to a fire in the town.

“The reality is we need a fire station opened in Castlerea. I am appealing to management to reconsider this and reopen the station in Castlerea,” Cllr Fitzmaurice said.

Cllr Nigel Dineen agreed with his fellow councillor.

“Only last weekend, I met a person who had a chimney fire in Castlerea. It is a massive concern for the people of Castlerea. We are too long waiting and it needs to be reopened,” he said.

He said that Castlerea was a big town, providing a lot of services, and that its fire service should never have been closed in the first place.

He called on the new chief executive to reopen the station.

Cllr Anthony Waldron said that the issue of reopening the fire station was the meeting’s most important issue.

“It remains my number one priority. Do we have to wait for something really bad to happen here? There was a life nearly lost over a year ago,” he said and he called for the immediate reopening of the station.

He said that other towns' fire services were covering Castlerea, but there was nothing more important that reopening the town’s fire station.

Director of Service’s Sean Mullarkey said that the additional fire fighters under the revised service model would cost a million euro every year.

“Plus another €582,000 of initial training costs for those 13 fire fighters,” he said. To reopen Castlerea, a further 12 fire fighters would be needed in the county.

“You’re going to need at least an additional €600,000 to €700,000 to open that fire station alone. This really is a budgetary matter. The revised service model has essentially increased the cost of the fire service,” he said.

He said that for the last seven years, the Castlerea area had positively exceeded its call out times under its area risk categories.

Mr Mullarkey added that it would be a matter for the councillors at budget time as there were significant costs.

Cllr Dineen responded that “lives matter not budgets”.

Cllr Keogh said that it was very easy to say that but every one of the council’s 1,100 services had to be funded.

The Council’s Chief Executive Shane Tiernan said that under national standards, the council in conjunction with agreements with surrounding counties was providing an adequate and effective fire service.

“With the revised model, with the 13 stations or so serving the county, that with be 156 fire fighters serving the county,” he said.