€500 call-out charges may cost lives, firefighters warn

FIREFIGHTERS have warned that hefty new call-out charges could cost lives as people try to tackle blazes themselves to save money.

A minimum fee of €500 will be charged when the fire brigade is called out to attend a fire in Dublin city or county from next Monday, but costs could run to thousands as extra charges are added depending on the number of tenders used and the time spent at incidents.

The decision to start charging leaves Cork as the only county in the country to provide call-outs for free but it is the scale of the fees in Dublin rather than the principle of charging that has caused dismay.

Under the system, a fee of €500 will apply for the first hour that fire services spend at a fire and €610 for the first hour attending at a traffic accident. For every subsequent hour, charges of €450 to €485 will apply for each tender.

Brian Murray, Dublin firefighters’ representative with SIPTU, said the standard response to a house fire in the city was to dispatch three tenders, so householders could face huge bills — or hesitate to call the fire brigade, with potentially disastrous consequences.

“The intervention window — the period of time from when a fire emergency call is answered, to when the tenders arrive at the scene — is crucial,” he told RTÉ’s Joe Duffy.

“The more you broaden that window, the greater chance there is of death to the occupants and the firefighters and the greater the cost to insurance companies because you are dealing with a far more mature fire.”

That view was backed by Tony Keane, a fire safety expert who formerly worked with Dublin Airport Authority. He said people were more likely to try to tackle small fires alone, putting themselves at serious risk of injury. “All fires start as small fires,” he warned.

Dublin City Council said it did not want to have to start charging but was forced to in order to maintain services on tighter budgets.

Gerry Geraghty, executive manger with the fire service, said fees were generally covered by house insurance but the council would deal “sensitively” where there was no insurance or where a neighbour or passer-by made a call with good intentions but there was no incident requiring a fire brigade. “If anybody feels they need the fire brigade, call. The question of charges is secondary to someone’s safety,” he urged.