According to Siptu organiser Geoff McEvoy, the recent Coolock occurrences have brought attention to the Dublin fire service’s underfunding and staffing shortfalls.
He informed RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the Dublin Fire Brigade had been dispatched to the former Crown Paint business in Coolock.
“Because of the location, the initial suspicion was that this was an industrial fire. So the response was appropriate to what would be needed for an industrial fire. That was three fire trucks, high rise ladder and a district officer. And of course, when they get there, they find that actually they were caught in the midst of a confrontation between a group of individuals and An Garda Siochana,” reports Breaking News.
“And just as we saw at the Dublin riot back in November, the particular nature of that situation, the heightened tension, the risk of violence meant that the fire crews weren’t able to extinguish that fire, which turned out to be just in a digger. But they weren’t able to extinguish that fire as quickly as they would have been. So those resources then were tied up at that location for much longer than was necessary,” reports Breaking News.
According to him, this episode brought to light two issues that have plagued the service for many years.
“Those two problems are one – under resourcing, short staffing and poor quality information about the risks that are out there in the city. So when I talk about the first one – under-resourcing and short staffing, I mentioned that there were three fire trucks at that scene, but that day there were already four trucks that were what we call off the room. In other words, not available for service because of short staffing. So with three trucks at the scene, seven not available. That’s right. Four not available. That’s seven in total that weren’t available for the rest of the city for the duration,” reports Breaking News.
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