Council moves to buy site for new Monasterevin Fire Station

Plans are underway to relocate Monasterevin Fire Station to a new site outside the town. Kildare County Council said work will begin to purchase a site in a business park being planned off the R445.

Former Chief Fire Officer and currently Acting Director of Services, Roads, Transportation & Public Safety Department, Celina Barrett, told a recent Kildare Newbridge Municipal District meeting that there were strict conditions related to the location of a fire station such as that staff must live or work within five minutes travel distance.

Accessibility must be good for fire fighters to travel to the station and then exit quickly in fire tenders.

Ms Barrett said the council spent a lot of time considering a limited number of sites in the town but didn't make much progress. Then a suitable site measuring over one acre in size emerged within a planned business park on the Dublin Road.

The official said that the council had sufficient funds to purchase the site and would proceed to do so if elected members were in agreement.

On a related issue, Cllr Suzanne Doyle queried if Kildare town deserved its own fire station given its population size. Ms Barrett said that the Kildare town area is currently served by fire stations in Newbridge and Monasterevin.

She added that Celbridge is the biggest town in Ireland that is not served by a fire station and this issue remains a priority.

She told councillors that another priority for a fire station is the area around Clane, Prosperous and Allenwood, which is currently served by Edenderry Fire Station.

Cllr Noel Heavey asked if Monasterevin Fire Station also covered the Portarlington area in Co Laois.

Ms Barrett replied that it did and the Kildare Co Council was one of the first local authorities to adopt the principle that the nearest fire station responds to an incident, nothwithstanding that it is in another local authority area.