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Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Fire-fighters urged to screen calls to save cash
By Gillian O’Neill
CLAIMS that individual fire fighters in Waterford have been urged to “screen out” minor calls to the fire service in a bid to save money have been denied by the Chief Fire Officer, Michael Hession.
Labour Councillor Billy Kyne stunned colleagues and the council executive when he suggested that base operators were being effectively told to “make a call” as to whether the service should respond to an incident and were told they would be “covered” if they got it wrong.
The suggestion was refuted by Chief Fire Officer Michael Hession, who was only in the Chamber yesterday to present a new Fire and Emergency Operations Plan to the members for adoption.
However, at the end of his address Mr. Hession was more or less ambushed by allegations that, not only had fire officers been told to decide if a call warranted a response, but that local Gardai had also been advised to reduce the number of call outs made to the fire service for minor incidents.
“Attendance at flooded houses or areas has been curtailed; oil spillage cover has been curtailed, non-national route cover has been curtailed. I have reason to believe that contact has been made by management at some level with the Gardai to reduce call out to smaller scale fire incidents,” said Cllr. Kyne.
“Reasonable people expect some restraint in recessionary times but what has happened here in Waterford is unacceptable. Also pressure is, I’m told, being put on individuals to screen out response, which is a dilemma. If a fire fighter follows this direction and there is a subsequent major incident, that individual is isolated and vulnerable despite any management assurances,” he continued.
Cllr. Kyne said all this was happening against a backdrop of a major onslaught on the wages of retained fire fighters.
“There is a major element of voluntary community service in being a fire fighter which often also has a family tradition. By cutting their earnings for fire fighting you are demoralising a committed workforce for short term financial saving. But in the longer term you’re potentially destroying the fire service we are all so proud of. I appeal for a major change of management policy,” he urged.
However, Mr. Hession denied the existence of any “pact” with members of the Gardai. He said while callouts might be down that was simply statistics and not a result of any policy on reducing callouts.
“In relation to an approach being made to the Gardai, I don’t have any knowledge of that,” he stated.
Describing what had been alleged as “alarming” Cllr. Pat Daly asked for assurances that the fire service was functioning properly and correctly and Mr. Hession confirmed it was.
“I’d like that message to got out of here today for the sake of older people in the community. So what you are saying is the fire service is doing exactly what it should be,” he queried, to which the Chief Fire Officer said that was the case.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr. Kyne said he might not have been popular for raising the matter but he had no option.
“I simply could not sit there and have that report be discussed without raising these concerns that have been brought to me. It’s not a decision I take lightly to do something like that but I believe it was right and proper,” he stated.
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