Only one fire engine in Tipperary's largest town is a 'matter of emergency'
Report on service requested from Chief Fire Officer
Only one fire engine was being operated in Clonmel since last November, Cllr John FitzGerald stated at a meeting of Clonmel Borough District.
He said he hoped it wouldn’t happen, but if there was a road traffic accident in Clonmel and a house fire in another area of the town the fire service wouldn’t be able to deal with both matters efficiently.
He wondered if there was a plan in place to deal with such an eventuality.
The towns of Cashel and Cahir had one fire engine each and a town the size of Clonmel needed two fire tenders, he said.
Cllr. FitzGerald described the situation as a matter of emergency.
District Mayor Richie Molloy agreed that a town the size of Clonmel needed more than one fire engine.
Cllr Pat English said that Clonmel always had two fire engines going back the years. The current situation could be due to the fact that they didn’t have enough staff to operate a second tender.
District Manager Sinead Carr said that the Chief Fire Officer was on top of his job and if there was any significant risk he would have been ahead of the posse.
She said she would request that he bring a report on how the service operated and how it was managed to the next meeting of the Borough District.