Councillors have sought clarification on the operation of the fire service in Tipperary – particularly in Clonmel which only has one fire tender in use. The Tipperary Fire Service Chief Dave Carroll informed councillors at today’s plenary meeting that he is very happy with the current operating model. The Meeting heard that Tipperary retained firefighters are now operating on a new roster where they have 4 weeks leave, must be on call to work for 24 weeks and can have up to 24 weeks when they are not rostered. The new working conditions with increased pay is making it much easier to recruit staff according to Mr Carroll.
The Fire Chief outlined that as Clonmel has a population between 10,000 and 40,000 people the standard set down for response time to an incident is 10 minutes for the first responding fire unit to be on site. If a second unit is required, this must be at the incident no later than 20 minutes from the alert. Mr Carroll says that following a risk assessment he is happy that these targets can be met. This model of operation has also been rolled out in Cashel and Nenagh since being implemented in Clonmel.Retained firefighters are paid a basic fee plus additional payments for call outs and training days – most have another employment.
Cllr Declan Buress raised the issue of the now vacant former Fire Station in Cashel at Ladyswell and the Fire Section says the Municipal District Council is now considering alternative uses for the building which is a protected structure as the new fire station is now in operation at Wallers Lot.
