Irish fire service ‘is not ready for major disaster’

A LEADING international firefighter has warned Ireland’s fire service is not equipped for a major disaster.

Goran Schnell, a former chief fire officer in Sweden, also warned any cuts in fire service budgets here would hamper the ability to deal with major emergencies.

He was speaking at the 54th annual Chief Fire Officers Association Conference in Co Limerick.

The former president of the Federation of European Union Fire Officers Association spoke about the challenges facing the firefighters of tomorrow.

“If something big happens here in Ireland I don’t think they have the resources to deal with that,” Mr Schnell warned.

He spent some of his 47-year career working in disaster management with the United Nations and NATO in Kosovo.

He said Ireland was comparable to Europe in terms of resources and skills but warned climate change was creating more dangers and situations for which firefighters are not prepared.

“We will be able to manage the daily fires and small traffic accidents and that is what the politicians are looking at — but then out of the blue something happens where we have hundreds of lives at stake and you cannot wait for international aid to arrive,” he said.

“There is a lot of new and strange things happening and the weather changes will create new types of major situations that we are not prepared for.

“Sometimes these climate situations can last for days and days and days,” Mr Schnell noted.

He referred to last winter’s unprecedented freezing conditions in Ireland and also the recent sand storm in Germany which was more typical “of something you’d see in the Saharan desert”.

“You never know what to expect,” he said.

“Ten years ago, after 9/11, politicians all over the world were very keen to look at how the fire service was organised but the effect of 9/11 in that respect has disappeared.”

Meanwhile, Limerick’s Chief Fire officers are hopeful funding won’t be cut locally despite talks of reductions being sought.

Preliminary discussions are underway at Limerick City Council to see if cuts can be made to the €8.7 million annual budget for the fire and rescue service.