A Workers’ Party representative and firefighter has called for urgent training for firefighters in the wake of last night’s (Wednesday) fire at the Metro Hotel in Ballymun.

David Gardiner, who is the Workers’ Party representative for Lucan-Palmerstown, and a firefighter with Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB), said:
“Thanks to the work of my colleagues in DFB, there was no loss of life in Ballymun last night. But the truth is that, in spite of repeated warnings from DFB, Dublin is at risk of a major disaster because we are not properly prepared for dealing with fires in high rise buildings.”

Gardiner continued:
“Equipment to tackle high rise fires is totally inadequate. Since 1981 there has been no increase in the number of fire appliances capable of responding to a fire like we saw last night – but in 1981, there were almost no ‘high rise’ buildings in Dublin.

“Last year, a number of second-hand appliances were bought to replace old high rise ‘aerial’ appliances. We discovered after they were bought that these appliances were not big enough to carry a full team of firefighters, and so they have to be accompanied by a separate car when they are deployed.

“This slows down response rate considerably, and puts lives at risk.”

Gardiner concluded:
“DFB and our representatives in SIPTU have been calling repeatedly for proper training in responding to high rise fires. This is becoming more and more important as Dublin’s number of high rise buildings increases. But it has been repeatedly postponed. It is only one example of how the inadequate resourcing of DFB and the fire service is putting lives at risk in Dublin.”