Review of Letterkenny fire station expected to be completed by July
The proposed relocation of a recently delivered second water tanker, currently based in Letterkenny, has been deferred until a business case on the operating model of Letterkenny Fire Station is completed
The Director of Emergency Services in Donegal has said that the county's fire service remains fit for purpose while a review takes place at Letterkenny fire station.
The proposed relocation of a recently delivered second water tanker, currently based in Letterkenny, has been deferred until a business case on the operating model of Letterkenny Fire Station is completed. The business case will assess whether the station should operate as a one or two-pump station.
County Councillors have been told that the business case is expected to be concluded by mid-July.
This week, Councillor Gerry McMonagle, Mayor of the Letterkenny-Milford MD, called for meaningful discussions between management and firefighters in the county service during the process of implementing the national WRC agreement.
As part of the changes, strong concerns emerged that Letterkenny could be downgraded to a one-pump station, which was strongly opposed by firefighters. Letterkenny firefighters have since been offered the option to revert to their pre-Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) crewing model. Cllr McMonagle said that this would be a backwards step.
“The strike action was about the work life balance and getting away from the pre-WRC crewing model,” said Cllr McMonagle told the council at a plenary meeting this week.
“Effectively what we have done now, for a town the size of letterkenny and the hinterland, there is a feeling that we are undersaffed, and the ‘six on, six off’ model needs to be updated, there needs to be further recruitment done to ensure that there is enough fire personnel when a shout goes out.”
Cllr McMonagle called on the council to listen to and work with the experienced personnel.
“We had a meeting recently with firefighters in Letterkenny and, in some instances, there were only two firefighters on the second pump going out," he said.
“They are very concerned that if there was a major fire in Letterkenny on a daytime shift when only six arrive and the cover has to come from Milford or Stranorlar, that there will be insufficient numbers there to deal with it initially.”
Cllr McMonagle called on the council to look at recruitment now, taking into account the growing population of Letterkenny and its hinterland.
"It's incumbent on management to be looking at future recruitment, even if we were to recruit an extra 10 firefighters tomorrow, between recruitment and training, it would take 16 months before they are on the job," he said.
Cllr McMonagle added: “It’s good that nothing is going to happen at Letterkenny fire station until the business case is completed and presented, and I hope that it is July, but if the outcome of that is that more personnel is needed, what are the steps that are going to be taken then?”
Donegal County Council's director of emergency services Garry Martins said: "The fire service in the county is fit for purpose and is capable of meeting service demand. It’s well-resourced and well-financed, it has never been subject to restriction in funding.”
Mr Martin said that the current issues have come about as a result of the national WRC agreement, which he said the council is “working through” by recruiting in all stations throughout the county.
Mr Martin has reiterated that there were never any plans or intentions to remove the second Class B appliance from Letterkenny, which continues to be actively used in incident responses. The Incident Command Unit will remain in-situ.
Mr Martin said that meetings are taking place between Fire Service Management and SIPTU regarding the 2023 WRC Agreement's implementation. There are also regular communications between the Letterkenny Fire Brigade's senior officer and the Station Officer.