Haphazard parking in housing estates and on town streets in Carlow, could exacerbate an emergency situation if access for emergency vehicles is blocked, according to concerned local councillors.
Cllr Lorraine Hynes raised concerns over the large number of motor cars per house in housing estates, meaning people were now parking on the footpaths and blocking access.
“There is no way in the world that if there was a fire in my house, the emergency services could get up at night time with all the cars parked on either side of the footpath,” she said.
Cllr Joe McDonald added that there were certain educational and other institutions where similar parking problems could hinder emergency services during an incident.
And Cllr John Pender said there was also a problem at the Hillbrook housing estate in Tullow, where the narrow streets could serve as an obstacle in the event of an emergency breaking out.
Chief Fire Officer Gerard Guerin told councillors that the problem of access was not something they came across too often, but said the fire services normally liased with local residents’ associations to highlight the importance of available access for emergency services.
Meanwhile Cllr Michael Doran has asked the fire services to take public houses case by case, when it came to inspections for licence applicants.
“When it comes to fire regulations in some rural pubs, like is not compared to like, and small rural pubs are asked to put in extravagant systems which make some of those pubs not viable,” he said.
However Mr Guerin noted that some of the rural pubs were quite old and said the fire services were currently trying to ensure that those pubs were brought up to the acceptable standard of safety for a pub.
And in response to questions on the safety of certain large venues in Carlow town where young people congregated at weekends, Mr Guerin said the fire services restricted the number of people in the premises by calculating the safe occupancy load factor. The fires services are also engaged in inspections in the county during performances.
“These venues look very different at one o’clock in the morning when they are full of people,” he said. “The main thing that we look for is that a means of escape is available at all times when the venue is in use.”
Fire brigades in county Carlow responded to a total of 384 incidents so far this year, up to the end of September, according to the latest quarterly report. Carlow fire brigade responded to 224 of those, while Bagenalstown responded to 87, Tullow to 59 and Hacketstown to 14.
The recently completed €600,000 Tullow fire station will be officially opened by Environment Minister John Gormley on Friday, November 7. The fire services have also received approval to purchase €100,000 of equipment to deal with hazardous material incidents.
And Mr Guerin confirmed that as promised under a previous county manager, defibrillators were currently being procured for all of the local fire stations, as well as two for the local authorities. He expected them to be in place by the end of this year.
