Fears fire response times will rise, putting lives at risk

There have been fears this week that fire response times in Offaly will rise substantially if proposed closures go ahead, putting lives at risk. Independent Cllr John Leahy, himself a former firefighter, spoke out after a new study revealed that in almost half of all cases fire brigades in the county arrived at the scene of a blaze within ten minutes last year. Speaking to the Offaly Independent Cllr Leahy predicted if 40% of the fire services are closed, as is proposed, then response times to accidents and fires will rise putting lives at risk in the three areas affected. "It will have a huge impact and there will be a big increase in the number of fires not got to in ten minutes. By closing the three stations you'd be increasing the threshold for damage and lives to be lost," he warned. A decision on the fate of Banagher, Daingean and Kilcormac fire stations is expected to be decided at the budget meeting of Offaly County Council next month after it was deferred some time ago by members in the wake of anger in three areas earmarked for closure. Cllr Leahy said this report actually shows the eight stations in the county are geographically well spread to respond to emergencies and, cutting three will have huge implications for response times and leave the other remaining stations without the necessary back-up. In some encouraging news for embattled Offaly fire fighters, the report judged their performance one of the best of the region across a number of areas with 47.66% of fires in the county attended within ten minutes, the best in the Midlands, and a full 10% better than near neighbours Westmeath. A further 43% of Offaly fires in 2008 were reached within the 20 minute mark in 2008, the report also stated, with only 13% breaching the over 20 minute wait. Cllr Leahy added: "We had a presentation from a fire fighters group and they showed us if a house is not got to within ten minutes of a fire it can be destroyed. If these plans go ahead the call times will be longer. Tullamore Fire Brigade could take 10 minutes to mobilise and another 20 minutes to get to Kilcormac and Birr could take 10 to mobilise and then travel over," he added, urging other councillors to support the retention of the stations ahead of the December budget meeting. He is also unhappy that recruitment funding drawn down by the council from the Department was not used for the purpose, instead being utilised for equipment and will meet the National Fire Fighters Union this Sunday in Tullamore to discuss the Offaly situation. In terms of mobilisation times, Offaly fire service personnel also performed very well last year. For instance, it took just 5.71 minutes, the second best in the region to mobilise fire service personnel in part-time stations around Offaly in 2008, with this rising slightly to 5.84 minutes respond to other emergency incidents. 6.09 was recorded for fires in Longford and worst in the Midlands was Westmeath with a fire mobilisation time of 6.22 minutes. Only Laois was better than Offaly in the Midlands with a 5.15 minutes mobilisation time during 2008. Meanwhile, close to 38% emergencies, apart from fires, covering things like accidents etc were reached in ten minutes in Offaly last year, again the best the region, with another 60% responded to within the 20