|
Home > Dublin
Fire Brigade Main Page
DFB at a
glance
Chief Fire Officer Mr.
Hugh O Neill,
14 Stations, Approx. 850
Personnel, 22 Standard Class B Water Tender Fire Engines, 91,001
Incidents (2003), 12 Ambulances, Pop.1Milllion+, Currently Dispatches
25 other Retained Stations in 4 other counties, Runs courses in
the Fire Brigade O Brien Institute training centre for outside bodies
on a wide range of activities.
General Information
Dublin Fire Brigade is the largest fulltime
brigade in the country with over 850 personnel. There are 12 full-time
stations and 2 retained (on pager) stations these being located
in north county Dublin at Skerries and Balbriggan.
Dublin Fire Brigade runs an Emergency Ambulance
service as well as fire, rescue and emergency calltaking for Dublin
city and county.
All firefighters are trained to Emergency Medical Technician B standard
which includes being trained to operate the semiautomatic
defibrillators which
are carried on all ambulances. Training is taking place in Irelands
EMT-A programme which will allow EMT-As to intubate, administer
I.Vs and a range of drugs.
Firefighters in the Townsend Street headquarters also have turntable
ladder, specialist vehicle and control room duties. At present firefighters
operate the control
room
taking fire calls for most of Leinster as well as dispatching
Dublin Fire Brigade ambulances which had 90,236 calls in 1999.
The Brigade
covers all of Dublin city and county which is now a city of over
a million people. Some of the high risks include Dublin Airport
(category 9 airport) oil terminals in docklands, multitude of hospitals,
chemical factories, universities and research departments etc. In
2004 both city light rail links went live which required training
all crews in any problem they might encounter such as crashes with
other road users (about 20 so far) or fire near the live overhead
cables.
The 4.5km long port tunnel from the Docks area to the M1 motorway
is now in the late construction phase and another risk to be assessed
by fire crews.
Vehicles
& Equipment
 Each
appliance in Dublin has it's equipment
laid out in an identical manner to avoid confusion at a fire. All
appliances carry 4 ladders; 5 M to 13.5M, a selection of hydraulic
cutting equipment, chemical suits, foam supplies, fire fighting
equipment etc.
In addition to a brigades usual fleet the D.F.B. has a number of
roll on roll off pod units for use at a major protracted incident.
These include a Breathing
Apparatus pod, a Decontamination
pod, a Major Incident pod and a Communications pod. 4 water tankers
two of which are 4 wheel drive 5200 litre capacity are also on fire
call.
With a massive investment in the Brigade over the past few years
the fleet has almost been upgraded to new Dennis Sabres. The newer
one coming on stream for the past year are supplied with a compressed
air foam system (C.A.F.S.) which has great fire knockdown abilities
using very little water.
For more information on fire appliances see the fire
appliances and equipment
pages>>.
Training
The Brigade has it's own large training
centre in Dublin with a parade ground, fire towers, large breathing
apparatus complex, ship fire fighting complex, in addition to the
school itself which has various lecture rooms, dormitories etc.
At present the Royal College of Surgeons along with the Pre-Hospital
Emergency Care Council (P.H.E.C.C.)certify the
E.M.T.
course (Now
called paramedic 1).
The fire training lasts for about 4 months before going operational.
The modules include a 2 week B.A. course, 1 week road traffic accident
extrication, 1 week pump operators, 9 weeks
Paramedic. and a variety of other items as well as constant
fire fighting training.
In 1999 Dublin Fire Brigade joined forces with the Irish Marine
Emergency Service (Now called the
Irish Coastguard) to provide specially trained crews to fight
fires on ships off the east coast.
New skills which have been introduced to the Brigade in the last
few years include the Swiftwater
Rescue Technician Course which to date (Jan 05) has trained
over 205 S.R.T.'s and 750 personnel in water awareness.
Rope rescue is another area where Dublin Fire Brigade is training
in to rescue people from cliffs, high cranes etc.
Other
Information
Fire
Prevention in Dublin is carried
out in part by District officers located in Tara street.
The large staff are responsible for carrying out fire safety inspections,
issuing fire safety notices and inspecting premises such as nightclubs
in the early hours to ensure compliance with fire safety regulations.
Related Pages
D.F.B.
Ambulance | D.F.B.
Control Room | D.F.B.
Overview | D.F.B.
Pipes & Drums |
D.F.B. History | D.F.B.
Stations | D.F.B Contacts
.
|
Organization Structure
