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Firefighters in Ireland both
North and South receive the same basic training using almost the
same type of equipment and fire appliance with little difference
in techniques. Many fire brigades, services and departments around
the world has evolved greatly over the years not only in the updated
technology and training but in the range of incidents they respond
to.
Once purely a fire service fire brigades now respond to a wide variety
of calls such as, car crashes, chemical spills and fires, water
rescue, general rescue, fires! ,flooding and a host of other types
of incident.
With many fire crews being trained as first repsonders they can
render first aid until the arrival of ambulance personnel.
Training as a Firefighter
The following is taken from the Dublin Fire Brigade training syllabus
and while other brigades do vary the course lengths and content the
core skills are still taught to all Irish Firefighters. The training
for retained (paid per call) firefighters is the same but some of
it is carried out over drill nights and on station as opposed to an
entire block of training.
Drills
 Recruits
train for about 16 weeks in firefighting and rescue techniques. The
course in part will comprise of a batch recruits being divided into
syndicates of about 5 or 6 firefighters each who will work together
as a team to learn the practical side of using equipment in what is
termed as a drill. A drill is a method of teaching a crew (team) of
firefighters to carry out a task in an efficient manner quickly. e.g.
on arrival at a house fire with a person trapped at a window the Officer
in Charge (O.I.C.) may give the command 13.5M ladder make down to
the second floor window.
With each firefighter having
been pre-assigned a number and seating postion at the start of duty
the command means that each person has a particular job to do in
making down the ladder and they know that job inside out. They will
each go to their position on the ladder as per the drill and erect
the ladder as they have learned to do. This means that 4 firefighters
are not rushing to do one job while another is left undone.
About 8 weeks are spent in such drills getting to know how to use
the equipment and operate as a crew at a fire.
Other such drills include:
1. Making down small and large hose to a fire from the fire engine.
2. Making down hose from a hydrant to the fire engine and then to
a fire or up a ladder and into a building.
3. Making down the two main ladders 10.5M (35') and 13.5M (45')
to buildings of various heights and in confined spaces.
4. Making down suction hose to either a portable pump or to the
fire appliance. (Suction hose allows water to be taken from a river,
lake etc using atmospheric pressure to push the water into the pump)
5. Road traffic accident drills whereby even before the fire appliance
stops work is being done such as donning high visibility clothing,
putting the fire appliance in a fend -off position to protect the
scene.
The firefighters handbook published
by the Department of the Environment details these drills. While
they are a standard they may be enhanced slightly by individual
brigade for operational reasons.
Download the
handbook PDF document 2.71 MB and
277 pages long.
Breathing Apparatus Course
 If
there is one core area which is essential to modern firefighting it
is the use of breathing apparatus to actually go into a burning gas
(was formerly smoke) filled building to both rescue persons trapped
and to extinguish the blaze before the building burns down.
Recruits do a two week course which as the days go by puts them into
more and more stressful environments and situations to allow them
to learn and get a better understanding of the equipment and procedures
they need to know.
For example a minimum of 2 firefighters wearing breathing apparatus
(BA) and maintaining physical contact at all times are alllowed entry
into a building. They report to a Breathing Apparatus Entry Control
Officer prior to going in and report to them on exit.
A part of the training for the past few years is the Fire Behaviour
course which teaches valuable skills and information on how to recognize
and deal with flashover and backdraught and similar phenononem. (For
further information on backdraught , flashover, gas-phase cooling
etc check out the fantastic Fire
Tactics Website)
All the breathing apparatus training in Ireland is governed by a set
of procedures laid down by the Department of the Environment. For
more information on these, the training and the equipment visit our
breathing apparatus
pages.
Road Traffic Extrication Course
 A
growing part of every fire services work this is an area where skills,
equipment and techniques need to be kept up to date to keep in pace
with new car technology. The initial course is one week in duration
where recruits get to the different types of equipment they will be
using, the techniques used in making safe cuts in vehicles and the
technology of new vehicles. Particular care is needed in modern cars
where the danger of cutting in the wrong place such as into an airbag
canister exists and patient awareness which is the main reason for
extrication and can sometimes be forgotten in the heat of the moment.
The training centre has a steady supply of vehicles to be used in
training and officers delight in putting them in awkward scenarios
for crews to practice their skills.
An excellent site for extrication techniques is the Holmatro
website.
Pump Operators Course
 Most
fire appliances in Ireland carry two pumps on board which supply water
or foam to fight a fire. One of these is a small portable pump which
can be carried to a water source that the engine cannot reach and
the other is the main pump which is an integral part of the fire engine.
All firefighters are trained in the operation of both these pumps
and the principles behind them. While on operational duties the driver
is the one who actually operates the main pump. With the introduction
of C.A.F.S. (compressed air foam system) and gas phase cooling principles
the knowledge needed to operate these new pumps continues to increase.The
pump course usually lasts a week.
For more on pumps have a look at our pumps
page.
Hazardous Chemicals Course
 While
most people would think of chemcials as being in big tanks in shiny
factories the truth is that they are everywhere. Consider all the
products in your own home from bleaches to paint strippers. The fire
service is trained to respond to emergencies involving these dangerous
chemical in situations such as spills and fires. Just look at all
the trucks going past with labels showing there dangerous contents!
Firefighters must be trained and equipped to recognise and cope with
Hazardous Chemical emergencies and the course does just that.
The Emergency Response Handbook is one of two main chemical identification
guidebooks used in Ireland to identify the contents of chemical containers
and to find out the appropriate response. It can be download
here  and
you can visit the site at http://hazmat.dot.gov/gydebook.htm
The other book is the Dangerous Goods Emergency Action Code List 2004
Other parts of the recruits firefighting
course.
In addtion to drills, breathing apparatus, hazardous chemicals and
pumping operations the recruits are taught a variety of other information
including.
Building structure theroy,
Electricity,
Physics in particular those areas
dealin with measuring area, volume etc.
Familiaristation of all special appliances from the emergency rescue
tender to the foam tender.
Ship firefighting,
Use of all euipment carried on a fire appliance,
Firefighting theroy and practice,
Footdrill (marching) which instills discipline and teamwork,
Operational FireFighting
Firefighters learn that they have a number
of different priorties in their role as a firefighter the top three
being:
1 Save Life
2 Save Property
3 Render Humanitarian assistance.
There are two main divisions of firefighter in Ireland the first
is a fulltime firefighter who has that as there main job and the
second is a retained firefighter who is paid a quartely retaining
fee and a per call fee but has there own job and must respond to
a call via a pager system. The retained crews make up most of the
stations in Ireland.
At the start of duty firefighter will line up and their badge numbers
will be called out assigning them to a particular fire appliance
and a particular position on that fire appliance. E.g. number one
is the driver with number 2 and 4 being the first breathing apparatus
crew.
The crew will then proceed to check off all the equipment
on board the fire appliance and their own breathing apparatus set
which is their life support unit in the event of entering a toxic
atmosphere.
The firefighters will then carry out station routines from filling
breathing apparatus cylinders to cleaning the station, preparing
food for dinner, testing equipment etc. In addition inspections
on premises and hydrants will be done from time to time and every
day / night a drill or lecture will take place to keep crews up
to speed on procedures or intorduce them to new equipment and practices.
Of course should the bells go off signalling a "turnout"
to an emergency call then everything is dropped to repsond as quicky
as possible.
The a docket will print out in the station control room giving incident
details e.g.
House on fire,
Persons reported,
15 Jamestown Way,
Dublin 9,
Location Jnc, Blakestown way, Druids chair,
Further details: 2 persons trapped in upstairs bedroom at rear of
house. Road
blocked at Jamestown end by bollards approach via Druids chair
Vehicles responding D21, D72, D74, D25 DO Bravo.
Any other information can be given via the radio as it is known.
Fire crews respond to a vast range of incidents some of which are
listed here.
Fires:
Buildings, skips, cars, rubbish, anything you can thing of!
Road Traffic Accidents:
Involving a person only to persons trapped in cars, lorries on fire
in a crash with chemicals,
General Rescue:
People and animals fallen down cliffs, stuck in lifts, impaled on
railings, crushed by falling objects,
Water Rescue:
From people falling in, jumping in to rivers, rescuing would be
rescuers, flood operations, body retrieval,
Medical Assistance:
Cardiac arrests, building site accidents, road traffic accidents,
serious trauma or medical where the nearness and training / equipment
of a fire crew will make a difference.
Hazardous Chemcials:
Spills, fires in tanks etc.
These are the main categories but the list
is endless.
Each station has it's own list of potential risk
from chemical plants to Airports (3 in Dublin) and therefore while
they all have at least one fire appliance some also have specialised
vehicles such as the emergency rescue tenders, boat carriers. hydraulic
platform etc located near the hazard they protect. For more on this
see the Fire Appliances
page.
Apart from firefighting.
While the recruits do recieve a lot of training more specilised
training is also given to those already operational.
Swiftwater Rescue Technician
This is a one week course carried out on the a swiftwater river
which teaches firefighters about the dynamics of water, hazards,
rope techniques and of cousre methods of rescue from bank operations
to actually getting into the river/ water source in a safe manner
and rescuing the casualty. Equipment used includes, drysuits, lifejackets,
inflatable walkways, inflatable hose, throwable floating lines,
ropework equipment, boat, boat carrier and launchers.
At this stage (Jan 2005) over 200 firefighters in Dublin are qualified
Swiftwater Rescue Techncians with over 700 firefighters trained
in water awareness. Cork City Fire Department also has a S.R.T training
program.
Rope Rescue
Currently under development in Dublin personnel are training to
rescue persons trapped in cranes, down cliffs on pylons etc.
Fire Behaviour,
A number of the brigades have already put firefighters through the
course which teaches valuable skills in dealing with flashover,
backdraught etc. All the pumps and hose branches in Dublin are now
capable of producing the required droplet size to carry out gas-phase
cooling techniques. (Check out FireTactics.com
for more information)
The principle behind it all is to cool down only the gas using just
enough water. Too much and a jet will hit the walls producing steam
which punishes the firefighter and increases the pressure mixing
the gases with more oxygen.
Marine Emergency Response
 .
Dublin Fire Brigade is responsible for ship firefighting
operations in Irish Waters off the East Coast of Ireland. Firefighters
receive training in a 3 module course culminating in a visit to
the UK for the helicopter sea crash simulation.
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Organization Structure
