Written answers

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Fire Service Staff

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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376. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will review the situation whereby, as a result of reductions in crew levels on fire appliances and other factors, retained fire fighters are on call less and suffer from reduced incomes as a result; if a rent supplement will be provided, in view of the fact that retained fire fighters must live close to the fire station, even though living with parents or loved ones might be more cost effective; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26795/14]

Photo of Phil HoganPhil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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In February 2013, I published Keeping Communities safe(KCS), which, as national policy, is intended to keep fire safety and fire services in Ireland in line with international best practice. The KCS document is the outcome of a review of fire service activities and sets out a system of national processes and standards for fire service delivery in Ireland based on a risk management approach. This addresses the critical elements of fire prevention and fire protection in buildings as well as fire brigade response.

The retained fire service in Ireland is recognised as a particularly appropriate community service provided by the local authorities. Retained fire-fighters are required to live and work close to their fire stations so that they can meet the generally accepted five minute turn-out times. Retained fire-fighters are paid an annual retainer in respect of the availability they provide, as well being paid hourly rates for their fire service work as set out in the Table below.

The standards for provision of fire services contained in KCS are based on an ‘area risk categorisation’ system which is being applied across the country by all fire services. This results in individual fire station areas being risk-graded across five bands from very high to very low, based on analysis of relevant local factors including three years of activity data. The fire service response in terms of numbers of fire appliances and fire crews in an area is related to this risk categorisation. The Pre-Determined Attendance (PDA) is the initial fire service turnout in response to a call for assistance from a member of the public, and indicates the number of appliances that will be mobilised automatically in response to calls for assistance to particular categories of incident.

For the first time in Ireland, KCS sets out standards for normal crewing levels on fire appliances which are very much in line with international practice; the first appliance mobilised to an incident should have a normal crew compliment of 5 personnel, to include a designated Incident Commander, with 4 personnel on the second or subsequent appliances mobilised from the same station. However, KCS makes clear that this is a norm and additional available crew over the initial five may travel on the first responding fire engine or on another fire vehicle as arranged locally. The crewing standards in KCS do not affect the incomes of retained fire-fighters in any way, which are based on the availability and rates of pay as set out above.

KCS properly seeks to continue the downward trend in the number of fires and other incidents which the fire services respond to annually. However, the setting of national standards for Pre-Determined Attendances is expected to lead to an increase in the number of fire service turn-outs for some categories of incidents. It is also clear that implementation of KCS is leading in many cases to a higher level of other activities, including training and community fire safety, for retained fire-fighters.

The current rates applicable to Retained Firefighters are contained in the table below:

Retained (Part-Time) Fire Service

Service Station Officer Sub Officer, Driver Mechanic Firefighter
0 - 5 years €15,438 €11,687 €8,402
5 – 10 years €17,345 €13,130 €9,439
10 years + €19,078 €14,442 €10,383
Hourly rate of attendance -DrillFireFireFireFire
DayDay Night/WeekendNight/Weekend
1st Hour Subsequent Hours 1st Hour Subsequent Hours
Rate per Hour €19.86 €39.72 €19.86 €79.44 €39.72

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