DFB at a glance

Chief Fire Officer Mr. Pat Fleming,

Formed in 1862 with the first ambulance service formed in 1898.
Has 14 Stations with approx. 1000 Personnel, 20 Standard Class B Water Tender Fire Engines, 133.000 calls annually, 12 Ambulances, Pop.1 Milllion+, Currently Dispatches Stations in 12 other counties, Runs courses in the Fire Brigade O Brien Institute training centre for outside bodies on a wide range of activities.

Designated as a Coastguard resource for Marine Emergency Firefighting so DFB responds when requested to any vessel fire in Irish waters.

General Information

Dublin Fire Brigade is the largest fulltime brigade in the country with over 1000 personnel. There are 12 full-time stations and 2 retained (on pager) stations these being located in north county Dublin at Skerries and Balbriggan.

Dublin Fire Brigade runs an Emergency Ambulance service (since 1898) as well as fire, rescue and emergency call taking for Dublin city and county.

All firefighters are registered Paramedics with the Pre Hospital Emergency Care Council standard. Two Advanced Paramedic vehicles also operate on a part time basis at present with Advanced Paramedic interns from around the country travelling along as part of their internship with Dublin Fire brigade Advanced Paramedics.

Firefighters in the Townsend Street headquarters also have turntable ladder, specialist vehicle, swiftwater rescue, and control room duties. At present firefighters operate the control room taking fire calls for most of Leinster ( 12 counties besides Dublin) which has approximately 133,000 calls for Dublin fire and ambulance alone annually.

The Brigade covers all of Dublin city and county which is now a city of over a million people. Some of the high risks include Dublin Airport, oil terminals in docklands, multitude of hospitals, chemical factories, universities and research departments, rail, 4.5km port tunnel etc. In 2004 both city light rail links went live which required training all crews in any problem they might encounter such as crashes with other road users (about 20 so far) or fire near the live overhead cables.

The 4.5km long port tunnel from the Docks area to the M1 motorway now open is also a hazard with over 200 firefighters receiving specialist tunnel firefighting training in Hagerbach Switzerland and all lorries required to travel from the port through the tunnel.

Vehicles & Equipment

Each appliance in Dublin has it's equipment laid out in an identical manner to avoid confusion at a fire. All appliances carry 4 ladders; 5 M to 13.5M, a selection of hydraulic cutting equipment, chemical suits, foam supplies, fire fighting equipment etc.

In addition to a brigades usual fleet the D.F.B. has a number of roll on roll off pod units for use at a major protracted incident. These include a Breathing Apparatus pod, a Decontamination pod, a Major Incident pod and a Communications pod. 4 water tankers two of which are 4 wheel drive 5200 litre capacity are also on fire call.

With a massive investment in the Brigade over the past few years the fleet has been upgraded to new Dennis Sabres which as of 2009 have now stopped building Fire Engines.(Dublin has now bought a number of new Scanias) The newer ones coming on stream for the past years are supplied with a compressed air foam system (C.A.F.S.) which has great fire knockdown abilities using very little water.

Training

The Brigade has it's own large training centre in Dublin with a parade ground, fire towers, large breathing apparatus complex, ship fire fighting complex, in addition to the school itself which has various lecture rooms, dormitories etc. At present the Royal College of Surgeons along with the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (P.H.E.C.C.)certify the Paramedic Course. The fire training lasts for about 4 months before going operational. The modules include a 3 week B.A. course, 1 week road traffic accident extrication, 1 week pump operators, 9 weeks Paramedic. and a variety of other items as well as constant fire fighting training.

In 1999 Dublin Fire Brigade joined forces with the Irish Marine Emergency Service (Now called the Irish Coastguard) to provide specially trained crews to fight fires on ships off the east coast.

New skills which have been introduced to the Brigade in the last few years include the Swiftwater Rescue Technician Course which to date (Jan 05) has trained over 205 S.R.T.'s and 750 personnel in water awareness, Marine Emergency Response (ship firefighting) Tunnel Firefighting.

Rope rescue is another area where Dublin Fire Brigade is training in to rescue people from cliffs, high cranes etc.

Other Information

Fire Prevention in Dublin is carried out in part by District officers located in Tara street.

The large staff are responsible for carrying out fire safety inspections, issuing fire safety notices and inspecting premises such as nightclubs in the early hours to ensure compliance with fire safety regulations.