Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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578. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide an update regarding the need for specialised training of fire fighters for electric vehicle fires; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63233/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department, through the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM), supports fire authorities by establishing fire service policy, setting national standards for fire safety and fire service provision, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects. The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Services Act, 1981.

The NDFEM has developed a suite of Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs) addressing many areas of fire safety. SOG 5.1 ‘Incidents Involving Electricity’ examines the hazards, risks and controls that relate to incidents that involve electricity. SOG 4.07 ‘Incidents Involving Alternative Fuel Vehicles’ examines the hazards, risks and control measures to personnel of Fire Authorities, personnel of other agencies and members of the public that relate to incidents that involve Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs). The core training that operational personnel receive through national courses and locally adopted SOGs underpins a risk based approach to safe working at incidents involving Alternative Fuel Vehicles.