KILDARE: Why there are no plans for a full time fire station

There are no proposals to provide a full time fire service at any station in County Kildare.

A call for Kildare County Council to move from a retained fire service to a full time service in “some or all of its fire stations” was made by Cllr Noel Connolly.

He said firefighters sacrifice a lot in the role and there is a crisis in terms of recruitment and retention.

He said the part timers come under even greater pressure when a colleague is out sick.

Cllr Connolly told a council meeting that 60% of retained firefighters intend to leave.

“There is little hope of promotion in understaffed stations and they have to deal with the strain of being on 24 hour call,” added Cllr Connolly.

He was supported by Cllr Colm Kenny who said it is a huge drain on resources to “be constantly training people (and) for them to leave.”

Cllr Bill Clear said the problem is accentuated by the fact that the age profile of the firemen and firewomen is getting older.

Cllr Nuala Killeen said the case for a review of the service in County Kildare is strengthened because of the population growth.

KCC currently operates fire services from six fire stations located in Newbridge, Naas, Athy, Maynooth, Monasterevin and Leixlip.

Since April 2013, the principle of the “nearest fire station” applies in Kildare. 

This means that the nearest fire station, irrespective of the county boundary, responds to incidents in Kildare. 

Chief fire officer Celina Barrett told the meeting that staffing numbers at the stations are above the minimum level.

Based on population and risk, none of the six bases requires a full time model.

“The risk categorisation doesn’t warrant it.”

Ms Barrett nevertheless also said that the retained model “has outlived its usefulness” and it is being reviewed.

Ms Barrett said that while a full time station is not currently needed “this may change as populations grow and the number and nature of developments in the county increase.”

The cost of providing the service in 2020 was €6.6m and a significant proportion of this was paid to firefighters. A conservative estimate of additional cost per full time station would be in the region of €2.5 to €3 million.