Firecall Winter 2020

WINTER 2020

FIRECALL OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF DUBLIN FIRE, AMBULANCE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES

Seeing the Lights

THE CITY THANKS OUR FRONTLINE WORKERS

OPERATION RESTORATION RESTORING AN 1884 ESCAPE LADDER

STAYING

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DUBLIN FIRE RESCUE EMERGENCY AMBULANCE SERVICE

PROTECTING THE CITY AND COUNTY SINCE 1862

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Editor: Adam Hyland Consulting Editor: Dan Fynes Contributors: Dan Fynes, Las Fallon, Philip Chambers, Podge Thompson, Ray McMonagle Designer: James Moore Cover Credit: Conor McCabe Photography: Dublin Fire Brigade, Dublin City Council, Ray McMonagle, Trevor Hunt, Adam Hyland, Paul Hand, Penguin, Viking, Hachette Ireland, Reach Sport, Philip Chambers, Las Fallon, iStock, Conor McCabe, Dan Fynes Sales Manager: David Byrne Production Executive: Ciara Murray Publisher: Chesterfox Ltd, T/A Firecall Magazine, P.O. Box 6766, Dublin 2.

Tel: (01) 432 2200; Fax: (01) 6727100 Managing Director: Gerry Tynan Chairman: Diarmaid Lennon Distribution by: Magazine Mailing Ashville Media Group Unit 55, Park West Road, Park West, Dublin 12 Tel: (01) 432 2200 Fax: (01) 676 6043 Publisher’s Statement: The information in Firecall is carefully researched and believed to be accurate and authoritative, but neither the Dublin Fire Brigade Sports & Social Club nor the publisher can accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. Statements and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the publisher.

Copyright ©2020 Firecall Magazine No part of this may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Dear readers, Welcome to the latest issue of Firecall. The ongoing disruption brought about by the reintroduction of restrictions to help combat the spread of COVID-19 has meant that most activities have once more been curtailed, but as you will be all too aware, working life goes on and it is great to see the DFB community band together to help boost morale while at the same time raising awareness for vital services.

Of course, the pandemic has increased the workloads of all DFB members, and it was very interesting to once again talk to ACFO Greg O’Dwyer about the ongoing essential work being done to deal with unprecedented challenges since the start of the year.

Congratulations must go to the DFB social media team who have once again picked up honours at the annual Sockies Awards.

Ray McMonagle talks about the win here, as well as some of the activities that helped the team gain recognition.

Having previously looked at the amazing work done to bring recruits through training, in this issue I spoke to Advanced Paramedic and Course Director Karl Kendellen about how the most recent paramedic class were put through their paces at the Training Centre, and the many challenges faced in organising this while adhering to the strictest of social distancing and hygiene regulations.

DFB Museum Curator Paul Hand has done excellent work in restoring historically important pieces of equipment, and recently he took the time to tell me about the restoration of an escape ladder used in 1884. I must thank him for sharing the story. Likewise, Las Fallon has once again unearthed a fascinating story about DFB’s role in the events of 1920 that is, as always, a great read, so my thanks to him.

I must also thank retired member former D/O Paddy O’Mahony for talking to me about his career, Podge Thompson for his update on the Athletics Club activities, and B Watch Phibsboro for taking time out to talk to me about life at the station. Huge thanks also go to the fire service in Røst in northern Norway for outlining what it is like to live and work in such a remote region.

The DFB 1875 Club has also continued to be very busy with many online events and virtual tastings, and members Brian Treacey and Ollie Burns outline what has been happening over the last few months, as well as what lies ahead when, hopefully, we can return to normal activities. My thanks to them for their time.

I hope you enjoy the read,

21 TRAINING IN LOCKDOWN 2

Paramedics undergo training as restrictions continue

32 OPERATION RESTORATION

Returning an 1884 Escape Ladder to its Former Glory

36 STAYING FOCUSED TO OVERCOME COVID The Challenges of the Second Wave

We are updating our mailing list. If your contact details are out of date, please email: adam.hyland@ ashvillemediagroup.com

FIRECALL WINTER

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SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB

CONTENTS WINTER 2020

36 STAYING FOCUSED

DFB Measures In COVID’s Second Wave

42 KEEPING THINGS FESTIVE Bringing Christmas Cheer

48 KEEP ON RUNNING

DFB Athletics Club’s Ongoing Activities

53 MEMORIES OF THE FIREHOUSE FIVE

21

An Appeal About a LongLost Friend of DFB

FEATURES 06 ANOTHER SOCKIES WIN

Ray McMonagle on DFB’s Successful Social Media

13 TASTING TIMES

The 1875 Club Takes Whiskey Tastings Online

21 THE PARAMEDIC APPROACH

Training Paramedics During Lockdown

30

26 THE PRESS-UP CHALLENGE

Raising Funds for LauraLynn

30 SHINING A LIGHT

Winter Lights Homage to DFB and Frontline Workers

32 OPERATION RESTORATION Bringing an 1884 Ladder Back to Its Former Glory

13

53

WINTER 02 FIRECALL

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4TH JULY

Check out more features and news from past issues at FIRECALL.IE

56 REGULARS 01 EDITOR’S LETTER 02 CONTENTS

58

05 SECRETARY’S FOREWORD 08 DFBSSC UPDATES 09 DFB IN BRIEF 16 FROM WITHIN THE CIRCLE DFB Pipe Band Update

45 INTERNATIONAL STATION PROFILE

Røst, Lofoten, Norway

50 STATION PROFILE

B Watch, Phibsboro

56 DFB HISTORY

Las Fallon on 1920 and the Burning of Cork

63 58 RETIRED MEMBER PROFILE

16

Former D/O Paddy O’Mahony

61 LOCKDOWN TV

More Binge-Watch Recommendations

63 TRAVEL

Unusual Fire Stations Around the World

67 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 69 BOOKSHELF 71 TECHNOLOGY

The Latest Innovations for the Emergency Services FIRECALL WINTER

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INSURING

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16/12/2020 18/09/2020 16:11 06/10/2016 14:23 17:24

FOREWORD

Honorary Secretary’s

FOREWORD

W

elcome readers to our winter 2020 issue of Firecall.

We are still faced with a lot of uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and how it affects our everyday and working lives. The levels of lockdown have changed, with some easing of restrictions coming in after the summer and before Christmas, but enhanced focus needed as we were met with a second wave of the pandemic.

What has not changed, however, is the level of focus and determination that has remained strong among DFB members to ensure that we are able to maintain our service to the people of Dublin while keeping ourselves as safe as possible. All members must be congratulated for adhering to the strict procedures that have become a necessary part of our daily lives.

There is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a vaccine that will hopefully be with us soon, and it will be great to see it rolled out over the coming months.

The excellent work being done by all DFB members is mentioned in the COVID-19 update from ACFO Greg O’Dwyer, who outlines what has been done to maintain a full service as this second wave brought further restrictions.

Having seen how new recruits were brought through training during lockdown, it is interesting to see how the paramedic class has managed to successfully complete their training under similar, unusual circumstances. They and Course Director Karl Kendellen must be commended for this incredible achievement.

The activities and events organised by various DFB Sports and Social Club groups has kept morale up over these difficult months, and in this issue, we highlight the work of the Athletics Club and Pipe Band, and get an update from the very popular 1875 Club about how they have introduced virtual tastings to keep members involved.

Congratulations must go to our social media team who again picked up honours at the annual Social Media Awards, and FF/P Ray McMonagle outlines just how this has been achieved, while the press-up challenge that raised funds for LauraLynn must also be applauded.

The account of Museum Curator Paul Hand’s restoration of an escape ladder dating from 1884 is very interesting. He has done great work in restoring this historically important piece of equipment. Also, Las Fallon has, as always, produced another fascinating piece of DFB history in his look at the Burning of Cork in 1920.

It is of particular importance to remember that, while we face many challenges at the moment, our work is very much appreciated by the people of Dublin, as can be seen in our inclusion in this year’s Winter lights project in Smithfield. While we don’t look for recognition, it is an honour to have a light shone on our work, and I must thank Dublin City Co Council for involving us in this.

We still face uncertainty as 2020 rolls into 2021, but we will stay focused and look towards a better and hopefully much happier New Year! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading this issue, and my thanks to all who contributed to it.

DAN FYNES

If you haven’t already done so, please order your new ID card by emailing idcards@dfbssc.ie with an attached headshot (on a neutral background), your name, pay number, station, watch and location.

We are trying very hard to make sure that all DFBSSC members receive their copy of Firecall. Anybody who is not receiving theirs should email the editor Adam Hyland with their address: adam.hyland@ashvillemediagroup.com

Dan Fynes FIRECALL WINTER

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Another

SOCKIES WIN The popularity of DFB’s award-winning social media shows the large interest in our work, writes FF/P Ray McMonagle.

T

he tenth annual Sockies Awards – Ireland’s social media awards – took place on 21 October and we were delighted to again win two awards.

Delayed from its usual early summer date in the hope that COVID-19 restrictions would allow for a real event, the organisers had to compromise and hold a now alltoo-familiar virtual event. Streamed online, the resident event host, RTÉ’s Rick O’Shea, streamlined the usually two-hour long proceedings in to a 20-minute pre-recorded video.

Sweets, normally flung from the stage hitting unobservant audience members in the head, were replaced by cups of coffee and staring at a computer screen: It was 4pm on a Tuesday after all.

Dublin Fire Brigade’s social media platforms have reaped awards at the Sockies since we first entered in 2016, and our fifth year to enter

was thankfully as rewarding. Against the tough competition of the Irish Defence Forces and the Irish Coast Guard, we picked up the awards for Best use of Twitter by a State Organisation, and Best use of Social Media by a State Organisation.

As a consequence of the virtual nature of the event, we are still awaiting the arrival of the trophies to join the growing collection.

As with operations, the communications unit has had a busy year, adapting to the new normal, producing a daily COVID-19 bulletin which has transformed into the now weekly ‘Request to Speak’ bulletin. We have collaborated with the fire prevention team to explore new ways to deliver our core fire safety messages, which resulted in #SeeRedSTOPfire campaign lighting up more than 80 buildings in the city in red for fire safety week in October.

We co-ordinated our mural off Camden Street, a new Halloween

safety video and the Winter Lights campaign by Dublin City Council.

This is in addition to our normal fire safety messaging, press releases, media engagements and so on.

All the above work helps win awards, it’s the icing on the cake.

However, the overriding feedback is that the public want to see you, the Firefighter/Paramedics and Officers who make it all happen. And it is you who are the real award winners.

People not only want to see the incidents, they want to see how it happens, what makes Dublin Fire Brigade: The people, the camaraderie, the training, the station life, the charity work.

Dublin Fire Brigade’s social media platforms are an invaluable tool to show who we are and what we do.

The communications unit is open to input from each and every member of DFB, and we will happily engage with anyone who has a picture or video of an incident, training scenario or visit (remember them?). That’s not exhaustive. Here’s a rule-of-thumb: If you like it, so will others!

We can be contacted on 087 607 9193 or at dfbcomms@dublincity.ie for any pictures, videos or ideas you may have.

WINTER 06 FIRECALL

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150km YOUR WAY

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16/12/2020 10/12/2020 14:24 16:45

SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB

SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB UPDATE

WE TAKE A LOOK AT RECENT EVENTS FOR MEMBERS OF THE DUBLIN FIRE BRIGADE SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB (DFBSSC).

O

n behalf of the DFBSSC, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, and I would also like to thank you for continued support through what has been a tough year for all. Let’s hope 2021 will bring us a step closer to normality, and a return to normal service for your Sports and Social Club too.

As I take a look back over 2020, I would like to start by wishing all members who have retired during 2020 a very long and happy retirement. We will hopefully see you all and your families during 2021, once safe to do so, for your retirement Celebration Party. We aren’t forgetting about those that were due to celebrate with us at the end of April, and it will be a great party when it happens.

CHALLENGES

2020 has not been the year that was envisioned by anybody, and like everything across the world saw the cancellation of all our planned events. With every cancellation came the opportunity to do things a bit differently, and with thanks to some very creative minds on our Committee and the assistance of DFB Senior Management, we put together the COVID challenges that brought us all through the first wave of the pandemic restrictions. The feedback was great, and we appreciate your participation in making the challenges so successful.

During the summer, things were eerily quiet for us, but thankfully the DFB Athletics Club stepped in and kept us all very well entertained.

Our planned AGM fell foul to the restrictions and we had to postpone

until they were lifted, little did we know what would happen next…

When the second phase of lockdown came in, a decision was made by the Executive Committee to postpone the AGM until the first available opportunity in 2021.

drawstring bag. We hope you get good use from them all.

CHRISTMAS

December: 1 A Dunphy (A2); 2 – S Mc Menemy (Logistics); 3 – B Swan (B3); 4 – A Corcoran (D HQ); 5 – K Shannagher (D12)

By far our most popular event of the year is our Children’s Christmas Party, and we didn’t want the year to pass without doing something for the little people. On Sunday, 13 December, we held a Santa Drive Thru experience in the DFB Training Centre. There was extensive planning put into this event to ensure it met with all guidelines and, most importantly, that it kept our members and committee safe on the day.

Plans were in place, but we had to wait until the Government guidelines were released before we could get the go ahead from the CFO. This resulted in a late release of our plans. Thankfully we had a great response and we hope all who attended enjoyed themselves. A big thanks to all who put so much time and work into organising this event, and all of our alternative events throughout the year. As with all we do, none of it would be possible without the hard work of the Committee, and this year was no different in that respect.

THANKS

NEW YEAR

MONTHLY DRAWS

Throughout the year we have continued with our monthly draws, with 60 members having won this year from all ranks and stations throughout the job. The latest winners for November and December 2020 can be found below. Winners will receive a 100 gift voucher, and can be claimed by contacting your station representative.

November: 1 CP Leacy (D2); 2 – K Finn (ERCC); 3 – K Gibbons (B5); 4 – D Smith (C ERCC); 5 – R Mahon (B13).

As we approached the end of the year, we wanted to do something for members to say thanks for their support throughout 2020. In December, the DFBSSC issued all members with a voucher for 60, and in addition to this, we issued all with a goody bag. The idea behind this was that we wanted to encourage all members to keep safe while in work, and issued them with a travel mug, water bottle, reusable face mask, pen, snood/neck warmer - all in a reusable

We are looking forward to the New Year with the hope some normality can return for all. Until then, we will keep trying our best to support and engage with our members. You can get in touch with us through your station reps or by message on our social media platforms should you have any feedback or suggestions for us.

Have a Happy and Safe New Year, Dan Fynes.

Secretary DFBSSC

WINTER 08 FIRECALL

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DFB IN BRIEF

DFB IN BRIEF A recap of Dublin Fire Brigade news and events over the past few weeks and months.

LEFT: A Dolphin’s Barn crew undergo water sled exercises in August. RIGHT: Saying farewell to S/O Derek McGuinness, one of our earliest Advanced Paramedics who also served in Ops, Training and Fleet Management, after 30 years of service.

BELOW: Collaborating with Mental Health Ireland to develop resources for families of emergency services workers to support their wellbeing on Mental Health Day in October.

ABOVE: Three crews respond to a wildfire near the old quarry in Howth in September. RIGHT: We said farewell to Admin Officer Paul Delany after 15 years with DFB and 40 years with Dublin City Council with a virtual retirement party and cake in October.

ABOVE: Two BA crews extinguish two vans set alight off Santry Avenue in the run up to Halloween. RIGHT: A large warehouse and factory fire in Tallaght in November saw 8 units and two aerial appliances attend to bring it under control.

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DFB IN BRIEF

LEFT: Saying farewell to Rathfarnham-based FF/P Ben Molloy as he leaves for the next chapter in his life after 30 years of service. RIGHT: Extinguishing a pre-Halloween fire in late-October. There has been a 64% increase in these fires compared to recent years LEFT: Masking up for Halloween.

RIGHT: It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of retired Sub-Officer Danny Davern Snr in November, a stalwart of Phibsboro D Watch. BELOW: The latest three ambulances added to our fleet showing a list of common signs of sepsis.

ABOVE: North Strand firefighters at a roll over collision off Summerhill Parade in September.

10

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DFB IN BRIEF BElOW: A water rescue at the canal at Baggot Street Bridge in November.

LEFT: No fear shown during a High-Line training course begun at the start of December. ABOVE: Justice Minister Helen McEntee joins CFO Dennis Keeley to launch the Don’t add to the problem fireworks awareness campaign in September.

BElOW: Kilbarrack firefighters present a cheque to St Francis Hospice as a thank you for the generosity of the local community during COVID-19 lockdown.

ABOVE: On-station training, with engine bays adapted to become well-ventilated classrooms for short lessons. BELOW: A busy Halloween night included a call to the DART line between Harmonstown and Raheny when fireworks set fire to vegetation near properties, with trains temporarily stopped.

ABOVE: Saying farewell in September to FF/P Cathal Ryan following 20 years of service at B Watch HQ, Rathfarnham and Donnybrook, he was joined by his family and crew.

ABOVE: Saying farewell to FF/P Paul Doolin after 33 years of service with Dun Laoghaire and Kilbarrack fire stations. LEFT: We were very sad to hear of the passing of retired class of 71 Sub-Officer Paul O’Brien in October.

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DFB IN BRIEF Facebook “f ” Logo

CMYK / .eps

Facebook “f ” Logo

CMYK / .eps

@DubFireBrigade

LEFT: Saying farewell to Sub-Officer Peter White as he took his last parade in Dun Laoghaire fire station after 31 years of service. RIGHT: A Rathfarnham crew finish up at a gorse fire in the Dublin Mountains in September.

LEFT: DFB crews across the city came out to mark National Services Day in September, with the Tallaght crew joined by their neighbours from the Civil Defence.of service. RIGHT: Saying farewell to Station Officer and former DFB Pipe Band Major Paul McNally, who leaves after 33 years of service, at North Strand in September.

LEFT: FF/Ps Rachael and Tom, with their club colleague Ronan, are joined by Lord Mayor Hazel Chu to recognise their world record swim across the North Channel last year. RIGHT: A turntable ladder accompanied 5 fire engines and our TTL & Environmental Unit at a large industrial fire in Santry in the lead up to Halloween.

RIGHT: FF/Ps from Dun Laoghaire fire station during their challenge to do 3,000 press-ups each in October to raise funds for Laura Lynn House. BELOW: Two fire engines from Kilbarrack and North Strand attend a caravan fire off the R139.

ABOVE: A fond farewell for FF/P Ken Leech from C Watch Blanchardstown as he retired after 31 years of service in August. LEFT: Fire engines from Kilbarrack and Swords attend a call to a combine harvester on fire in Fingal at the end of September.

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1875 CLUB

TASTING TIMES The DFB 1875 Club continues to keep the spirits up, FF/Ps Brian Treacy and Ollie Dunne tell Adam Hyland.

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1875 CLUB

L

ockdown has meant a lot of social club activity has been postponed or gone online.

Despite this, the DFB 1875 Club, named after the Great Liberties Whiskey Fire of that year, is going from strength to strength.

“Membership has continued to grow steadily over the past few weeks and months, with word spreading within the DFB,” FF/P Brian Treacy, whose go-to whiskey is a Bushmills Black Bush or Power’s John’s Lane, tells me. “The longer lockdown goes on, the more people are looking for different things to do, and our online tastings via Zoom are an ideal thing to do at the moment.

At the time of writing, it looks like restrictions are going to continue or get worse, so really the only way to keep the show on the road is to continue with the online tastings that people can do from home.

“It has been tough for the club because nothing beats going to your favourite pub and sampling some whiskey, but this has been a great way to overcome the boredom that can come with restrictions on movement, and provides a great way for us all to meet up, although virtually, and sample and talk about whiskey together. These tastings have been a big positive in a time of negativity.”

This positive was added to in June when the esteemed US podcast Whiskey Cast recognised the 1875 Club as their Whiskey Society of the Month.

Having organised a hugely enjoyable online tasting with the Dublin Liberties Distillery in April – probably one of the first online tastings done in the country – further tastings followed, including one with Teeling in May.

Club member Jenny Shannon gets ready for the Zoom tasting focusing on ages of whiskey.

“We had originally organised with Master Distiller Alex Chasko to have a private tour of Teeling’s followed by a tasting, but that was obviously shelved for now,” FF/P Treacy says, “but the online tasting was very good.

“As part of our summer plan, we had looked at having tastings at several venues as well as walking tours with distillery visits, and all of that has now been put on the back burner but is definitely something we will be keeping in mind because there is some fantastic whiskey heritage to be had there.

Getting into those distilleries in that historic area for whiskey production –

“The longer lockdown goes on, the more people are looking for different things to do, and our online tastings via Zoom are an ideal thing to do at the moment”

Teeling, Pearse Lyons, DLD, Roe & Co – those will all be good days out, so when we can do it, and it’s safe to do it, I’m sure they will sell out easily.”

As well as being a very sociable event, these tastings involving experts in the field are also very educational.

One held in October focused on age statements, with six whiskies ranging from three-year-old to 14-year-old on the table to see what the ageing process does to various whiskies.

Another tasting focused on whiskies matured in different types of barrel, illustrating the difference results when the spirit is finished in bourbon or sherry casks.

“This tasting was very interesting for me,” says FF/P Ollie Dunne, an ardent Teeling fan whose favourite whiskey is a Teeling Brabazon 3. “I’m very new to the whiskey scene, but the amount of information I got from tastings like this and from other members has been absolutely huge. If you have any kind of interest, and even if you know absolutely nothing about whiskey, they are a great place to start.

“There are so many different types of whiskey and you may not know where to start or what you like, but the tastings are a great way to try small portions of different types of whiskey to get a good variety of tastes.

I found out very quickly that I like single malt, and I went down a rabbit hole of trying single malts, but then we moved on to a pot still tasting and that made me realise that I liked that too, whereas previously I would never have branched out to try another type of whiskey.

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1875 CLUB

“If you have any kind of interest, and even if you know absolutely nothing about whiskey, the tastings are a great place to start” “The tastings are also done in a very friendly atmosphere with a lot of craic.

Obviously, there is a big difference between meeting in person and doing the tastings over Zoom but it is still a very good, positive atmosphere. There are members from all across the DFB, and sometimes you are able to include a friend or family member, so it is very sociable.

“It is very interesting for me as someone who didn’t realise they liked whiskey. I have learned that I love whiskey, but its centred around the social side, where we can have a sip of whiskey at home and send a picture around to the group to start a conversation. It’s more than just having a drink, it’s about enjoying the taste and talking about it with like-minded people.”

For FF/P Dunne, the planned visits to whiskey distillers around Dublin are something to look forward to, when they are eventually possible. “Getting educational tours of these places will be a great day out,” he says, “but we have to wait until the current situation is over, so fingers crossed that will be soon. It’s something to look forward to anyway.”

In the meantime, plans are afoot for further 1875 Club ventures.

“We had to think of ways to keep people interested when some of our options were closed to us, so we started our cask programme,” FF/P Treacy tells me. “Through the Irish Whiskey Society and Dick Mac’s bar in Dingle, we were able to buy a share of a cask of Writer’s Tears from Walsh Whiskey, and we got about 40 or 50 bottles from that. It was a limited edition IPA seaweed cask from the old Dingle brewery and the whiskey was taken from it after 18 months, with a limit of two bottles per person available.

That was a fantastic whiskey to buy into. Probably one of the nicest whiskies Walsh have produced.

“S/O Declan Rice did great work with personalising these bottles too, because he managed to get the number of the bottles to correspond with a number significant to a person, so for example someone in Dolphin’s Barn got either Bottle Number 21 or 22 or 24 because that was the call sign of the station. I got offered 81 or 84 because I work in Rathfarnham.

“That was sitting waiting for us during the heavy stages of lockdown, but we eventually got it in July. It was only because of the fact that one of our members was providing a course down in Kerry that we managed to get ours out, weeks before the Irish Whiskey Society got theirs.”

Ff/p Treacy adds: “We also have a share in a cask from Killowen, which will be ready in early 2021. We are also looking at doing something with Teeling or DLD – it is really down to finding the right entry point for the club. The cost for a full cask can be quite expensive so the cask share is a very good option.

“Then we are also looking at the possibility of merchandise such as polo shirts and tasting glasses that we could put the 1875 Club brand on, and they would probably prove very popular, and not just with our own members.”

Another great idea was the establishment of a bottle share group.

“We had a WhatsApp group set up purely for bottle shares so anybody who was interested could buy into a share of a bottle,” he says. “If a new whiskey came out, somebody would buy it but other members could buy a share of it – say a seventh or 14th of the bottle – so you would get 100ml, for example, and only pay for your share and the minimal cost of the bottle sent out to you.

“Rather than taking a pop on a 140 bottle that you may or may not like, you could buy into a share of that bottle and

pay, say 14 for a smaller amount of it. If you liked it, you could always then go on and buy a bottle of your own.

It’s a good idea because members can try something new and if they like it, it sends them on their own path to find the type of whiskey they really like, so it is all about learning about different whiskies and discovering your own personal tastes.”

This is particularly useful in the latter part of the year when in the run-up to the annual Whiskey Live event (sadly cancelled this year), a huge number of new whiskies are released. “I expect there will be a lot more new whiskies coming out,” FF/P Treacy says, “and there is going to be a big increase in our bottle share activity.

“A lot of distillers are innovating and making their product more accessible, and I think the bottle share approach is a great way to increase that accessibility further. With the current situation, the likes of DLD, Teeling, Bushmills, and many others, have had to become innovative, because they have had no choice, and we are embracing that innovation and finding new ways to share whiskey with our members.”

The online tastings have continued, with one held in November and possibly more to “keep us going up to Christmas” as FF/P Treacy says, and hopefully in the New Year those excursions will be possible.

“As well as visits to Dublin distilleries, we also planned on a trip to Dingle, but as with other things, that will have to be something we look at for next year,” FF/P Treacy tells me. “We are restrained by how quickly we deal with COVID and the restrictions. Fingers crossed we manage to deal with it as soon as we can and we can return to normality and do all the things we had planned for the club.”

FIRECALL WINTER

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DFB PIPE BAND DFBPB perform a summer tribute to all DFB and frontline workers.

FROM WITHIN THE CIRCLE Lockdown hasn’t silenced the DFB Pipe Band, who are looking forward to playing again once restrictions are eased, writes Mark Toner.

T

his year, as with every other aspect of Irish and Brigade life, has seen a lot of our traditional band activities hugely curtailed.

We’re promised that this is for the greater good – hopefully we’ll see the benefits soon.

The start of restrictions coincided exactly with the band’s intended trip to Savannah, Georgia, for which we had a group of 20 band members and colour party due to travel. A vast amount of logistical work, practice and planning went into this trip, which made it all the more bitter to taste when at the 11th hour the trip fell victim to the pandemic. We weren’t sure what to do with ourselves then, and the sound of the usual band practices and performances in the run up to St Patrick’s Day were replaced with the sound of grown men in

kilts weeping into their sporrans.

Band practice and the traditional Monday nights in Marino fell victim to lockdown and restrictions, as we put our shoulder to the wheel in the national effort. A small price to pay, in realistic terms, to help keep the Brigade community, our families and our members safe.

Just because we couldn’t practice as a band, does not mean all was lost and that we couldn’t practice ourselves, as many members took the opportunity to get to grips with new tunes, and brush up on instrument maintenance and repairs.

The centrepiece of the band, and indeed every pipe band, is the Bass drum. For those who don’t know, this is the large double headed drum carried on the chest of burly souls like Tom McLoughlin, John McNally and Gerry Condron. This forced repair and maintenance period led the Drum section, under leading drummer Alan Corcoran, to review the bass drum design and ultimately led to the commissioning of a new drum head.

This will be the pride of the band for many years to come. The lads are

fighting over who will be the first to sport the new Bass at our first postlockdown performance.

Although the national public health guidelines impacted band activities greatly and may have quietened us somewhat, it hasn’t silenced us altogether. Throughout the lockdown period it became evident that band members, our supporters and the hardworking members of DFB that we are very proud to represent, needed either a morale boost, a thank you or just a plain ‘auld tip of the cap. Take your pick.

So, in an effort to cover all three and acknowledge the efforts of DFB in general we decided to have an impromptu performance, distanced of course, in the OBI. We posted this clip to our social media platforms, with the

WINTER 16 FIRECALL

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17/12/2020 15:39

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16/12/2020 04/11/2020 10:09 11/08/2020 14:25 14:14

DFB PIPE BAND band playing the traditional Irish air – “Thugamar féin an Samhradh linn”.

Traditionally this tune is played at the start of summer, welcoming all that there is to look forward to in the season.

We thought it apt to let our supporters, members and the wider community know that this too will pass and that you are not alone!

As it happened, the impromptu gathering-not-gathering gave us cause to celebrate a very special occasion. Since the band’s inception, one individual has remained a stalwart throughout our 35-year history. In fact, I think stalwart is not enough to describe a gentleman who has been a pivotal band member, holding almost all of the executive positions within the band, is a constant at every practice and performance, is both an inspiration and guiding light to younger members, and quite frankly without whom the band would be a lesser organisation. This individual is retired Sub-Officer Paul Shannon.

Paul turned 80 in the midst of lockdown. He is a founding member of the band and has been pushing us forward since that foundation in 1985.

If there is one word that Paul and his tenor drum know the meaning of, that is dedication. Our motivational performance during the summer gave us as a band the opportunity to wish Paul a happy birthday and to say thank you for his years of commitment to DFBPB and all we stand for. Breithlá Shona dhuit Paul agus Míle Buíochas!

As the pressures of total lockdown eased and restrictions lessened, it gave the band vital room to gather for a short period in a now familiar controlled environment, to practice for a short while, allowing us to keep momentum going with some of our learner pipers and drummers who are advancing

Founding member Paul Shannon.

brilliantly. Hopefully as we exit this maelstrom and return to pipe band life, we will have a bigger and stronger band to show for it. Keep up the fantastic work lads!

For those who may have been hoping that lockdown has finally killed off the cat stranglers, we’re sorry, we’re still here and we have tried our utmost not to let restrictions interfere with our band duties. From day one the band has been requested to perform at poignant events such as funerals of serving and retired members, an honour we in DFBPB take seriously. 2020 has been no different.

While we may have missed foreign trips, St Patrick’s Day parades, local parades and recruit passout, we still strived to fulfil our core duties. Along with playing at what seems an inordinate amount of retirement parades, special mention has to be paid to Seamie O’Rourke, Barney Mulhall, Paul McNally and John Halstead for giving of their time selflessly to perform at these events under trying conditions.

Speaking of retirements, the band’s current treasurer and former pipe

“Hopefully as we exit this maelstrom and return to pipe band life, we will have a bigger and stronger band to show for it”

Band member T/O John Keogh leading band member S/O Paul McNally on his final parade.

The new Pipe Band Bass drum.

major, Paul McNally, retired from service as S/O in No 4 District Station in September. Fortunately, we were in a position to play a small set as a tribute to Paul and his dedication to the band over the years at his off-going parade. We’re hoping the band will stand to benefit more from his increased free time. Go n-eírí leat Paul.

We hope to see you all when we emerge on the far side of this. If lockdown has given you pause for thought - to follow that pastime you always wanted, to try something different or to learn that musical instrument you always wanted to try - then we’ll be here.

Monday nights in Marino will return and as always, we’ll be open to all ages, genders and rank from within DFB. The band can be reached at any time through any band member or by email at dfbpbsec@gmail.com or via any of our social media pages.

‘Tis your band!

WINTER 18 FIRECALL

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17/12/2020 15:40

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16/12/2020 16:20

THE PARAMEDIC APPROACH The latest class of paramedics have just come through training as Ireland faced a second wave of COVID-19. Course Director Karl Kendellen tells Adam Hyland how it was made possible.

“

T

his group of paramedics is a unique class,” Course Director Karl Kendellen tells me.

“No other class in the history of Dublin Fire Brigade has ever had to experience this kind of training while under lockdown due to a pandemic.”

These are indeed unusual times, and while in our last issue we looked at the incredible work put in to ensure the recruits were brought through fire training during the first wave of COVID-19, paramedic training for these and other firefighters has had to be carried out under various levels of restriction, making their graduation just as remarkable.

For a start, the class size was unusually large, with 56 on the course.

“It was a huge class,” Course Director Kendellen agrees. “We had 43 coming straight in from the recruit class, plus ten personnel coming back from operations, and three external students from Dublin Airport Fire Service. As well as myself, we also had Eithne Scully and Ray Kearney as Assistant Course Directors, eight syndicate officers, and tutors, bringing the teaching faculty to 19. So, there were a lot of people involved, all of whom had to be kept safe and who had to follow very strict

regulations on distancing and hygiene that never changed even when the level of restrictions in the country were changing.”

Although the class was made up of new members as well as those who had gained operational experience, all of them were more than familiar with the safety measures that had to be followed, and this ultimately led to the class completing the course during what were difficult times.

“I think the operational lads had some exposure to how we could work under new guidelines because they were out in the stations,” Course Director Kendellen tells me. “Even though they weren’t yet trained as paramedics, they would still have been going to a lot of medical incidents on the fire appliances. So, they would have been familiar with the isolation techniques and the PPE. Those coming straight in from recruit training would have experienced how things had to work, and they knew no different, but there was some adapting to what we had specifically in place, and everybody fell into it very easily.

“Obviously, there were issues from the point of view of how we would typically run a paramedic class and what we could and couldn’t do under the circumstances, but the students

just rowed in when they were asked to do something, or not do something, they facilitated everything as much as they could.”

Starting in September, the course ran through to the end of November, with COVID-19 regulations easing at one stage before being reinforced over this period, and at the time of writing all are now in the supernumerary phase of their internship, serving four weeks as an observing third person on the ambulance.

“This has been, and will be, an interesting time for them,” Course Director Kendellen says. “For those who came in straight from the recruit class, it has been a hard year. They got two weeks off after a very challenging recruit training course, before coming back in to the paramedic course, again under difficult circumstances.

“It is probably harder for those coming back in from operational work, because they have gotten used to shift work, and had to return to Monday to Friday, which is quite restrictive.

And it’s not really nine to five, because there’s a huge amount of reading and self-directed learning that has to be done, so it is full on, it completely takes over their lives for 12 weeks.

“One advantage they have is that they have been out at cases and seen incidents – cardiac arrests, broken bones, soft tissue injuries – so they are able to put into context what they are being taught, whereas for those who haven’t yet had the experience, it is still very theoretical.”

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TRAINING

Mannequins were used to simulate patient-led exercises to reduce physical contact between students.

Students were able to remotely observe practical lessons.

Social distancing was adhered to at all times during training.

CHALLENGES

Regarding the course itself, Course Director Kendellen and his colleagues had to devise ways to deliver its component parts safely, which presented many challenges given the hands-on nature of the training, but he had good foundations from which to build.

“We used the foundations that were put in place by Course Director Tom Doolan when he took the recruit class,” he says. “We kept the pod system and the syndicate groups with one syndicate officer assigned to each to avoid mixing and the risk of contamination. But we did change a few things to take into account where we were at regarding COVID-19 and the second wave of the pandemic.

Ordinarily, people would use their colleague or classmate for practice as a patient, and the nature of the course is that it is a physical, hands-on, skills course, but we used a lot of simulation

mannequins instead of having people lying on the ground and being tended to by their syndicate members.”

There was also a lot of planning and back-up planning needed for each component of the course that had to be decided on, based on the restriction levels imposed to combat the pandemic. One example is the Mass Casualty training.

“We had several different plans for Mass Casualty,” Course Director Kendellen explains, “from preferably running a major incident in the way we would have done in the past with external services, right down to not being able to do anything at all, and everything in between. If we were to run it as before, we simply wouldn’t have been able to guarantee that we wouldn’t bring COVID in.

“Because of that, we had to take the traditional Mass Casualty incident and break it down into what one of the instructors described as a

Mannequins were used for all possible scenarios.

deconstructed mass casualty incident.

We were able to run it on a circuit so we had eight different components, with each syndicate starting at one point and rotating through the circuit, so we were still able to manage it as one continuous exercise. Each group got exposure to all the learning objectives they needed to do, and all the practical skills they would need, but on a much more segregated basis.

It was an innovative way to do it and we were still able to provide enough realism and practical simulation.

“There was, as always, a huge amount of effort put into making it happen, with all of the safety and COVID precautions on top of that, and it worked well, with the feedback very encouraging.”

There were also challenges when it came to the less physical, classroom-

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17/12/2020 15:42

“Even though they didn’t get to bond as a unit, you could see that the class knew they were doing something special here” based elements of the course, but this was also successfully completed.

“Apart from figuring out how we were going to manage such a big class and keep them safe, we also had to figure out how we were going to deliver the theory elements of the course properly,” Course Director Kendellen tells me. “Previously we could have had everybody in the one lecture room, but social distancing meant that for us this year we had to have the class split across three rooms.

“We ended up streaming from one room into the other two. From a tech point of view, we did have some difficulties, and it was a challenge for instructors to adjust to how they delivered their lectures to a streaming audience, rather than one in their lecture room, and the issues of how to keep that tutor-student interaction.

“Students were finding that if they weren’t in the room with the lecturer, it is hard to stay motivated and focused. We had considered running three parallel sessions and rotating the tutors, as they had done with the recruit training, but because of the nature of some of the topics, the lecture could be two or three hours long, and there just weren’t enough hours in the day to be able to do that.

But we got through it.”

INNOVATION

The use of innovative technology helped in this regard, with an audio-visual system set up to run the abovementioned simultaneous lectures, but other new ideas were also brought in.

“We used a lot of the XVR simulation suite available to us,”

‘Patient’ triage.

Course Director Karl Kendellen.

Course Director Kendellen tells me.

“For the Mass Casualty training, we were able to simulate a patient triage exercise on a big screen, almost like a video game, where we could have students walk through a shopping centre and triage patients, and this had never been done before for a paramedic course here.

“That was fantastic because when we couldn’t go off-site and commandeer a building, we could do it virtually. We have only touched on the huge potential for this, where we could stream learning exercises to stations. For future training there is so much opportunity for innovative training.”

LEVELS OF RESTRICTION

The safety measures that had to be strictly adhered to remained the same as when the recruits first entered the Training Centre, but what differed for the paramedic class was the

Mass Casualty training was separated into different groups but each retained the challenges ordinarily faced in this exercise.

number of restrictions and relative freedoms that came in before the second wave hit, and this too proved to be a challenge.

“The move from Level 5 to Level 3 definitely provided more challenges because,” Course Director Kendellen says, “whereas the recruit training took place during full lockdown, paramedic training was taking place when some restrictions had been lifted, people

FIRECALL WINTER

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TRAINING

One syndicate group tackling an RTC element of the Mass Casualty incident training.

could socialise, schools and businesses were open, so it was hard to manage and ensure that the students were all protecting themselves and their class outside of the Training Centre.

“Through no fault of their own, there were some instances when someone was tagged as a close contact of a positive case, which resulted in self-isolation, but we were always fully focused on how we could maintain the integrity of the course and ensuring we didn’t lose one or two syndicates at any stage through cross-contamination or exposure to infection.

“I won’t say we were lucky, because a huge amount of work went into keeping everyone safe at all times.

All of the instructing staff, all of the people involved in running the Training Centre, and all of the students, worked hard to ensure they didn’t put themselves in any situation that could result in someone testing positive for COVID-19. One of our big fears was that if someone came in with a positive case, we could lose a third of the class, so there was a lot of work done to mitigate those risks.

ACHIEVEMENT

“To get 56 students through in the middle of a pandemic is a huge achievement, and something I am very proud of,” Course Director Kendellen adds. “I can’t speak highly enough of all the instructing staff who kept it moving, and the students who put a huge amount of effort into not going out and living their lives, because it is hard. Between recruit training and paramedic training it is 26 weeks, half a year, and to not be able to go out and let off steam is a big ask.

“Of course, it has been hard in that they haven’t been able to bond as a group in the same way other classes would have. That is an unusual situation to be in, and very different from other when you are literally living shoulder to shoulder with your classmates. The group realised this though, and even though they didn’t get to bond as a unit, you could see that they knew they were doing something special here, it was a very unique set of circumstances to be in, and I felt they were very proud to be performing so well, and not being stopped by the pandemic.

When distancing was impossible, students wore masks to protect each other.

“To be able to get through that due to the hard work put in by the students, the faculty, and the mitigation measures put in place, was incredible. In fact, Brigade Training Officer Brendan Carroll mentioned that DFB affiliated with the RCSI were the only thirdlevel partnership or institution that continued face to face education throughout the pandemic, so that again is a great achievement.”

WINTER 24 FIRECALL

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17/12/2020 15:43

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16/12/2020 14:49

LAURALYNN

Getting ready for the challenge to support LauraLynn.

THE PRESS-UP CHALLENGE FF/Ps from Dun Laoghaire station took on a new fundraising challenge for LauraLynn in October.

D

uring the COVID-imposed lockdown, fundraising for charity, staying fit and keeping up morale have been difficult, but 15 DFB members based at Dun Laoghaire fire station have managed to combine all three.

In October, they took part in the Press-Up Challenge in aid of Laura Lynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, attempting to do 3,000 press-ups each over the course of the month to raise funds and awareness for the charity providing specialist palliative care and supportive care services to meet the needs of children with life-limiting conditions and their families.

The 15 FF/Ps from across all four Watches set up a Just Giving page where people could donate, and set about reaching their press-up targets and logging their progress on social media.

“We were motivated by the tireless work all at LauraLynn do, and driven by the need to raise funds for them,” says FF/P Sarah Good from A Watch.

She became aware of the challenge in September when she saw fellow FF/P Neil Kennedy from B Watch No.1 had WINTER 26 FIRECALL

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17/12/2020 16:41

LAURALYNN

The FF/Ps at Dun Laoghaire station get together to complete their 3,000 press-ups each in one month.

already taken it on, with the charity being particularly close to her heart.

“I saw on Facebook that Neil had started and it caught my eye because of my family connections with LauraLynn,” she tells me. “My husband’s nephew Lucas was one of the first children to be cared for in the Butterfly Suite at the hospice.

During his short life and afterwards, LauraLynn were fantastic in the care they gave to him and his family.

“As a result, my family have all tried to do anything we can for them. The work they do is unbelievable, so it is great to be able to do anything we can to help raise funds and awareness for what they do.

“This challenge is such a great idea, because so many charities have lost their signature fundraisers and their ability to raise awareness due to the pandemic, so coming up with an idea that could be done online and done by anybody across the country was really great. People can do it anywhere, at home, or at work, at any time of the day. It was easy to get involved, to chart and show your progress through social media and to raise money and receive donations online.”

Sarah told her S/O about the challenge, and he suggested they ask if anyone else at the station wanted to get involved and take it on as a group exercise. Other FF/Ps were happy to join in, and by the end of the month the group of 15 had raised 75% of their 2,000 target.

“There may also have been a lot of people who had already donated money to LauraLynn by sponsoring runners in the marathon, which is brilliant, and also, not everybody wants to make a donation on Just Giving, and would have made a donation themselves directly, which all just adds to the money raised, which is brilliant,” Sarah points out.

Apart from raising money for charity, the challenge also meant a lot in terms of team bonding and boosting morale at the station.

“It really helped us reinforce the sense of teamwork at the station,” Sarah tells me. “It was brilliant to be able to work

together on it, and as a physical challenge, it highlighted and encouraged us to get involved and to stay active. We all took it at our own pace. Some people went for 100 press-ups a day, some more used to it going for 30 at a time, and so on.

But others did ten in one go, throughout the day, while I was doing mine at intervals, whenever I could fit them in – at the station, in the gym, when going for a walk. We all stuck to it and encouraged each other to keep going, because if you are not used to it, you can start to feel it after a few days.

“There was a really good sense of camaraderie, which was great when you consider that we are a very competitive group of people, a really good atmosphere of encouragement. I think it helped that our station is near the LauraLynn HQ, so everyone here knows very well what they do, and that served as an extra bit of motivation between us to help each other reach our goal.”

By November, the challenge had seen LauraLynn raise 180,000 across the country, and Sarah hopes it becomes a regular feature of the calendar, given its success and the way it can so easily be tracked and shared online.

“I do hope this can become a signature fundraiser for LauraLynn in the future,” she tells me. “You look at other charities and the way some of their campaigns have become so well known and which have a great take-up, such as Movember, and this seems like a perfect challenge to put on every October. There’s a huge potential there, so let’s hope so. It was tough at times, especially if you are not used to press-ups, but everybody really helped everyone else out, and given the amount of money raised, the pain was well worth it.”

You can make a donation at the following address: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dunlaoghairefirestation4lauralynn, or donate directly at lauralynn.ie

WINTER 28 FIRECALL

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WINTER LIGHTS

Shining a

LIGHT The Smithfield area of the Winter Lights festival gives thanks to DFB and other frontline workers, writes Adam Hyland.

Firefighter Nicola Sheil with her daughter and Dublin Lord Mayor Hazel Chu.

D

ublin City Council’s annual Winter Lights campaign saw 17 locations across the city transformed in December, with colourful projections adding much-needed cheer after a difficult year, and in Smithfield Square a particular focus was placed on thanking DFB members and other frontline workers for their contribution in helping to keep the city running.

The idea to honour DFB members, other emergency services and all of the people who have provided essential services throughout the pandemic, by projecting their images on to the sails in Smithfield started in September and grew from there over the last few months.

“We were approached by Dublin City Council in September to take part in this year’s Winter Lights festival,” FF/P Ray McMonagle tells me. “The Council were keen to in some way honour frontline workers, not just

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WINTER LIGHTS

The Smithfield project shines a light on all roles within DFB and other frontline services.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight some of the extraordinary efforts put in by each and every staff member in Dublin Fire Brigade throughout the pandemic.”

Dublin Fire Brigade but all frontline workers including An Garda Síochána, hospital staff, road maintenance, transport workers, retail staff, anyone who was on the frontline, keeping our city going.

“We, of course, were willing to oblige and put a call out in our Request to Speak bulletin for anyone in DFB interested in taking part. There was a lot of interest and we had to limit the numbers to ten, from the six places we were originally allocated!

“We wanted to highlight some of the different roles that we carry out on the frontline, so pictures were taken of staff in the role of Firefighter, Paramedics, Control Centre Operators and SRTs, at a photoshoot that took place in HQ at the end of October. Huge thanks must go to photographer Conor McCabe for the great pictures, and to Dublin City Council.”

The willing participants include Alaric Collier, Peter Nolan, Nicola Sheil, and Francis Kelly as Firefighters and Officers,

David Lawlor and Linda Scully as Advanced Paramedics, Conor Morris and Alan Devine as Swift-Water Rescue Technicians, and Sean Martin Peters and Maria Markey as Control Centre Operators and Officers.

CFO Dennis Keeley also expressed his appreciation of the campaign, and the recognition of the work being done by DFB and other frontline workers.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight some of the extraordinary efforts put in by each and every staff member in Dublin Fire Brigade throughout the pandemic,” he says. “We hope that the images of a small selection of our frontline team help light up the city, and bring some joy to those who experience the Winter lights festival in Smithfield.”

FF/P McMonagle adds: “We’d like to thank Dublin City Council, and in particular the events section, for including us in this project, and of course those who put their name forward, we simply couldn’t use everybody.”

FIRECALL WINTER

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RESTORATION

OPERATION RESTORATION DFB Museum Curator Paul Hand tells Adam Hyland about his restoration of an 1884 Escape Ladder.

“

T

his project started for me in spring of 2019, when a man named Martin Thompson called me and said he had an old escape ladder from the late-1800s, and was looking to find a better home for it,” DFB Museum Curator Paul Hand tells me as we sit in the museum at the OBI poring over photographs of the ladder in various states of disrepair.

“He was a collector of old fire engines and had about 25 of them at his home in Athy, but he was downsizing his collection, so it was a case of going out to see it and deciding, based on the amount of damage, whether it was worth taking it on and bringing it back to its former glory.”

As the photos show, a lot of work needed to be done to the One-Wheel Escape Ladder used as far back as 1884, which was extensively damaged and “in need of a lot of TLC” as Paul says. “As you can see, it is a fairly big piece of kit, going beyond 100 foot and weighing a couple of tonne,” he points out, “and I needed to gauge whether it was fixable, but when I saw it, I knew I wanted to take it on.

“It had originally come from Newbridge House in north County Dublin, but would have been based at one of the police boxes around the city. You would phone the police box and tell them you needed the ladder, which would then be brought to a

building fire and used to rescue people from sometimes great heights. Ladders like this would have been used up until the time when the fire brigade started bringing their own turntable ladders designed by former CFO Purcell to fires, so there is quite a lot of history and a lot of stories attached to it. So, it needed a good home.”

RECOVERY

The first task at hand was to get the ladder loaded up and brought from Athy to Paul’s shed. “The staff and officers at the OBI gave us the use of a truck – so a big thank you to them – and with the help of FF/P Richie Hunter and his son Conor, who both drive forklift trucks, as well as original owner Martin Thompson, we were able to load it on to the truck and bring it to my garden to start the repair work,” Paul tells me.

That was just the beginning of what would be a six-month labour of love, with Paul taking a methodical, step by step approach to the ladder’s restoration, with detailed photographs taken at every stage to illustrate what needed to be done next, and to follow the progress of the project.

“When I got it home, the first thing I had to do was soak the ladder in water for two weeks, just to get it moist again,” Paul says, “because it had been stored for years in a shed and was in a bad state, so I had to keep it wet to expand the wood and make it less brittle.

“It also needed to be washed with cold water to get rid of the red lead paint that covered it, then it had to be scraped clean. While every piece of the ladder had been kept, all of the parts needed to be restored. A lot of them had seized – the pulleys, the uprights, the extension parts – so it had to be stripped right back down into three sections and worked on bit by bit.

“The footplate on one of the sections had also seen some damage because a wire broke on it, one of the pins collapsed and the footplate had slipped, causing a fair amount of damage, but it was repairable. All told, I did about 80% of the repairs.”

Paul got valuable help with the parts he couldn’t repair himself from retired DFB member and carpentry expert Jack O’Rourke. “Jack was very helpful and did some great work,” Paul tells me. “Between us we had to decide whether the wheels needed to be replaced, if we needed to get a wheelwright in, or if we could do them ourselves, and he said he would be able to do it, and did a great job. He stepped in to do the repairs on the wheels and footplates, because you do need a specialist for that kind of work, and he also went out and sourced the timber that was needed. There was some rot in the wheels that he did a great job replacing.”

Paul also received a lot of help from local stores when it came to sourcing parts. “I went to a few places who said they didn’t supply them, but I was lucky enough to go to a company in Ashbourne called HLS, and explained what I was doing and what I needed,” he tells me. “They had the nuts and bolts and screws, and a man called Willie Tuite was very helpful.

Whatever I needed, he got for me, and if he couldn’t get it, he told me where I could. I also got a lot of help from TJ O’Mahony’s, and must thank both of them.

“It was the same with the paint I needed. I went to a place called McCarthy’s and explained that I was looking for a specific red paint, and they told me to come back in a week.

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RESTORATION

The Escape Ladder needed a lot of TLC.

The ladder when it was first collected by Paul.

While intact, much of the ladder needed to be restored and repaired.

The Trailer Pump owned by Noel Cassalls when first collected.

When I went back, they handed over a tin of paint the size of a mug, so I said that I needed gallons of it, and explained what I was planning to do with it. In fairness, they got it for me within a week.”

With the ladder constructed in 1884, it was not surprising that not all of the parts would be easily available. “There were some parts that I couldn’t get anywhere, so I had to make them myself, and this was the same for some of the tools I needed to restore some parts,” Paul says. “A lot

of parts were frozen in time, and to take brass caps off them, for example, I had to make the tools to take them off and get them back in working order.”

REPAIR

While repairs and replacements were underway, the frame needed to be constantly washed and wetted to restore the timber, then repeatedly treated with woodworm killer, but after three months the ladder had been stripped down into three sections.

“The ladder had to be taken off the gantry to be cleaned, and with that you had to prise it apart. There was a huge amount of metal parts attached to the framework, all of which had to be removed and cleaned thoroughly,” Paul tells me. “The runners were also frozen in time, one was snapped and needed to be welded, and there was a lot of damage throughout, but Jack did some great salvage work on it.

“I also got some great help from the crews from No.4 and No.6 when I needed assistance in raising and

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RESTORATION Paul with ladder owner Martin Thompson and FF/P Richie Hunter.

Retired DFB member Jack O’Rourke did great repair work on the wheels.

The ladder brought back to its original glory.

Martin Thompson with Richie and Conor Hunter.

Looking much healthier.

Each section needed to be stripped, treated and restored.

The WW2-era Trailer Pump restored and ready to show.

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RESTORATION

“Even with all the parts that needed to be restored it never get frustrating, I enjoyed working on it to get every piece and part right, and if another project like it came up tomorrow, I would do it again” lowering the ladder,” he adds.

“They came out whenever I needed them and am grateful to them for that.

“It’s not hard work if you use your head in your approach. I took it day by day, step by step, thinking if I could clean this brass today that’s good, if I can unfreeze these parts, grand, everything needed to be taken apart and restored to be put back on, but a lot of it had seized. I took photos as I went along so that I could see exactly what stage I was it with it, and what I needed to start on next.

“It was six months of work, but I looked at it as ‘work of sorts’. If I needed something like a trolley or a hop-up, I made it. Even with all the parts that needed to be restored it never get frustrating, I enjoyed working on it to get every piece and part right, and if another project like it came up tomorrow, I would do it again.

“When it was all restored, I painted the whole thing and it came out looking great. Overall, it probably took six months to get it back to its proper state, but all along I could see what it was going to be like in the end. I had a clear picture in my head, and that kept me going.”

IMPORTANCE

Paul says that he was lucky that the officers and staff at the OBI showed interest in the project from very early on, with discussions ongoing about where the ladder can be housed.

“They were saying this is something that needs to be shown, needs to be in display,” Paul says, “and from almost day one they said they wanted to see it come back to the DFB.

“The officers could see what it was and that if the restoration was done right, what it could be, that it was something they wanted to have, but it had to be done right. There was no point in making a mess of it. But they were very impressed with it.”

For now, the ladder remains housed at Paul’s shed, but with a plaque currently being made to detail the ladder’s history, there is talk of possibly housing it in a bigger DFBA museum some time in the future, where it would be an eye-catching and important piece of historical equipment.

“It was a great piece of equipment for its day, but they were nearly all scrapped, so to find one like this is like winning the lotto,” Paul tells me. “There can’t be that many still in existence, maybe one or two in a museum somewhere, but to get hold of one this size is a real find, and to be able to restore it to its former glory was an honour.”

TRAILER PUMPS

Before talking about the ladder restoration project, Paul showed me another piece of historical equipment that he painstakingly restored and which is currently housed in the church building at the OBI. The Trailer Pump built by Sigmund Pumps Ltd, and which has been loaned to DFB by collector Noel Cassalls in Kildare, was used during the Emergency in Ireland between 1939 and 1945 is possibly one of only two left intact, and as Paul says, “would hold pride of place in any museum”. Restored in 2016, it was brought to the OBI in 2017, but Paul says he hopes to find a good home for it.

“Trailer Pumps like this were common sights on the streets of Dublin and around the country, but of around 5,000

that were made, almost none have survived. It would have been housed in one of the fire stations around the city and manned by the Auxiliary Fire Service who would bring it to a fire where the DFB would take over, but often they would handle the fire themselves. They would have been kept very busy while in operation.

“They were taken out of operation after the Emergency because they weren’t needed any more and almost all of them were scrapped because the materials were needed elsewhere.”

This particular piece of equipment – number 4,206 of 5,000 - came with its hoses, branch pipes and helmets, as well as a very basic toolkit, and Paul restored every part and piece.

As with the ladder, the trailer was in a state of disrepair and took around six months to restore.

“It needed a lot of TLC,” Paul tells me. “It needed a lot of cleaning, as did all of the brass and the other equipment, and the tow bar had been badly damaged, so I stripped it right down and got to work on it before piecing it back together.

“The one thing I didn’t do in the restoration was spray it. The grey colour is because it needed to not be visible from the air at night. It had a single light to operate it in the dark to minimise its visibility.”

Thanks to Paul’s work, all of these parts and elements are easily identifiable and can be admired, and what was once ready for the scrapheap has been transformed into a working trailer pump that holds a lot of history, not just for the DFB, but for the city and country.

“I’m pleased that it turned out very well,” Paul tells me. “It really is an important piece of history.”

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COVID-19

STAYING FOCUSED TO OVERCOME COVID As a second wave of COVID-19 hit the country, DFB continued to provide a comprehensive service thanks to the commitment of its members, ACFO Greg O’Dwyer tells Adam Hyland.

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COVID-19

I

n our summer/autumn issue, when the country had entered a “new normal” phase and restrictions were being lifted, I was able to sit down with ACFO Greg O’Dwyer to discuss the preparation, ongoing initiatives and measures Dublin Fire Brigade had put in place to ensure the organisation could continue to provide a 100% service while keeping its members safe.

As we entered the winter months and the country was hit with a second wave of the pandemic, we spoke again via video call, with ACFO O’Dwyer updating me on the work of DFB members during these challenging times.

“In terms of operations and the measures we have in place, a lot of it has remained the same,” he tells me, “but we have continued to focus on and reinforce the message of the necessary protocols that have been put in place to keep us all safe. This includes social distancing, hand sanitising, hygiene, ensuring nobody comes to work who is symptomatic, or a close contact of a suspected COVID+ case, and generally making sure that everybody keeps their mind focused on the importance of this.”

While there is less uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 now as we become more familiar with it, the sheer number of infections brought on by this second wave has had an impact on all organisations as well as the general population, but ACFO O’Dwyer says DFB’s initiatives to combat the growing numbers of positive cases were successful, especially after the organisation was significantly affected in the months after our first interview.

EFFECTS

“We were hit hard enough,” he tells me. “In the first six months of the pandemic we had only 14 COVID-19 Positive cases in DFB and in only the first month of the second wave we had an additional 30, such was the impact of the second wave. The majority of these were community or home-related infections, with members contracting COVID-19 outside of the workplace,

just as we have seen in the general population. In reality, it is very difficult to be fully sure where the infection was contracted in the first place.

“The average number of close contacts in the first wave was around 15 people, but with the measures we have brought in now, that is down to three. We have been able to make that dramatic reduction because, for example on the appliances, whether fire or ambulance, all personnel now have to wear both a mask and a visor, so there is a double level of protection. This has meant that our Occupational Health providers have been able to deem those personnel as not close contacts. That has proven to be invaluable.

“We have also been re-emphasising the need for social distancing, and by and large that message has been successfully driven home. Also, the operations of the DFB HR Helpdesk fielding queries to reduce the risk of infected or close contact personnel coming to work, was augmented. Those measures have also helped to reduce the numbers.”

While there had only been 14 positive tests recorded in DFB by the time our last issue went to print, this number has increased to 54, but the measures ACFO O’Dwyer mentions have meant that while at the worst point there were 120 personnel out due to Special COVID-19 Leave as close contacts and because of isolation measures, the number of members who are currently out at the time of writing is just 14.

“During the summer months it was difficult because we also had to deal with annual leave and cover that by bringing in a few retired members, or deferring retirements and some annual leave, but now in the second wave we don’t have to contend with leave as much,” ACFO O’Dwyer says, “and the numbers of close contacts have been so much reduced that we are seeing the benefits of that in terms of numbers restricted from duty.”

FOCUS

A sudden rise in positive cases in autumn did present challenges, but ACFO O’Dwyer says the actions taken

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ensured that DFB was not adversely affected, and that this spurred the entire organisation on to strengthen its focus on keeping members safe.

“We did have a couple of outbreaks in DFB stations and had to go into consultation with our occupational health providers, the HSE Public Health, and we had to ensure we had the appropriate measures in place, which we did,” he tells me. “But what having an outbreak did was that it focused everyone’s attention. The level of compliance, which was already very high, increased further. When we have a positive test in the workplace, the close contacts affected by that are at a minimum, so our staff levels haven’t been badly affected, and we are able to continue to provide a full service.”

While the sheer length of the second prolonged lockdown with severe restrictions on movement and the ongoing need for protective face masks has seen a level of complacency sink in with the general public that has possibly led to a rise in positive cases of COVID-19, ACFO O’Dwyer says that for DFB members, the rise in cases has come through household/community contacts and in some cases possibly through fatigue.

“This wasn’t just fatigue in terms of people being fed up with the situation,” he says, “this was actual fatigue. Our personnel were exhausted with the level of PPE they had to put on and take off so often, the level of concentration needed, and the measures they had to take every day. This was inevitably going to take its toll.

“However, a couple of outbreaks certainly refocused the minds of all personnel and at the moment, the level of compliance and adherence to the measures in place remains very high.

“While it has been business as usual, there is a more measured approach now with regards to operational response, so the amount of PPE we are going through has reduced. However, its use has increased at station level because another measure we have brought in is that the wearing of face

A mask must be worn at all times on all operations.

“We have continued to focus on and reinforce the message of the necessary protocols that have been put in place to keep us all safe”

masks is now mandatory at all times.

Previously, wearing a face mask was only mandatory on the appliances and when in close contact with someone, but now they are required in all shared areas at all times.

“We also still have a number of systems in place such as our HR help desk with land and mobile numbers that are available 24/7 if anybody is concerned, needs to talk or has any questions. We expanded the COVID help desk too, and that has worked out really well because the people in that role were also suffering fatigue, it was so busy, so we increased that due to the level of response needed.”

VACCINES

The winter period can present extra challenges in normal times, and this year sees not just the added elements of the second wave of the pandemic and uncertainty about restrictions and

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COVID-19

movement over the coming months, but also the risk of flu and other winter-related illnesses confusing the detection of COVID-19. However, ACFO O’Dwyer says that DFB’s flu vaccine initiative has seen “very positive” results.

“The flu vaccine is available every year for all DFB staff, and the normal uptake of it is around 220 people per year out of 1000+ staff, including Non-Ops,” he tells me. “This year, the uptake was more than 700 people, with peer administering of the vaccine, so that is a very positive sign. We were able to administer the vaccine to those 700 people in less than one week.

“In speaking to HSE Public Health we found out that we actually hold the record for healthcare worker uptake on the flu vaccine. The maximum uptake of any other healthcare worker groups was around 56% and ours was more than 70%. It shows our members’ commitment to not wanting to get sick, to protect ourselves and stay safe. That was a great result as we head into the winter months.”

There is still uncertainty regarding when a vaccine for COVID-19 will become available, which vaccine it will be, and how it is going to be administered, but DFB will be heavily involved in collaboration with the HSE and our occupational health to ensure it is made available to DFB personnel as soon as possible.

“As healthcare and frontline workers we will be prioritised to receive it, but we don’t yet know where we will stand on the prioritisation table,” ACFO O’Dwyer tells me. “Obviously at-risk people will be first, as well as doctors and nurses, then paramedics, but we will be prioritised and we are working very closely with our occupation health team to be able to do this as quickly as possible in the shortest amount of time.

“It remains to be seen if we can conduct peer administration, and we would also be well placed to administer the vaccine to the general public if we are required to, because of the locations of our stations within

FF/Ps now wear both a visor and face mask when on an appliance.

the community, but this very much depends on the type of vaccine that becomes available, its storage requirements, and the decisions of NPHET and the HSE.”

MORALE

Over the course of the summer, despite the ongoing situation, morale has remained high thanks in part to the great work of the DFB Sports and Social Club, who ACFO O’Dwyer again praises, but he also points to a recent survey by the DCU Business School that shows Dublin Fire Brigade members have shown a higher satisfaction rate with how they have been managed, how valued they feel, and how safe they feel, compared to other frontline workers.

“DFB actually came out of that very well,” he says. “Looking at it, you can see that morale is very good.”

The LISTEN: Capturing Learning from the Frontline Response to COVID-19 report reveals that 83% of DFB respondents felt their role is valued, compared to just 61% of other emergency service respondents.

In relation to the provision of PPE, more than 90% of DFB respondents agreed that their organisation provided adequate PPE, compared to 76% of other emergency service staff, while 86% of DFB respondents said their organisation is looking after

their basic needs, while only 58% of other emergency service staff could say the same.

This sense that they are valued in their roles, and are seeing their needs met, has helped to keep that morale up, and to ensure that all members stay focused.

“The couple of outbreaks we had and the measures we have taken as a result have focused people to keep compliance high,” ACFO O’Dwyer says. “People don’t want to be stuck in Level 5 forever, and they are seeing that not only with the public’s compliance but their own compliance we can hopefully bring this pandemic to an end sooner rather than later.

They want to get back to normal.”

Finally, when it comes to the message he would like to convey to all DFB staff, ACFO O’Dwyer quickly says: “Keep up the good work. We have done absolutely fantastic work up to now, with service provision continuing without any drop, and you have done it all in full compliance with regulations and restrictions. You have been fantastic in continuing to look after your own safety, the safety of your colleagues, and the safety of the public. We are not just looking after ourselves or the service we provide, we are looking after the entire community, and we are doing all of this very well.”

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CHRISTMAS EVENTS

KEEPING THINGS

Festive DFB Sports and Social Club and DFB management organised events to help bring some Christmas cheer in December.

T

he annual Children’s Christmas Party was one more event that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the DFB Sports and Social club introduced a couple of creative new events in December to bring some Christmas cheer during what have been challenging times.

Firstly, at the start of December, CFO Dennis Keeley announced the DFB Beat COVID 12 Days of Christmas Celebration, with a fund of 2,500 going towards prizes to be given out across a dozen daily events to run from 11 to 22 December.

These events were open to all DFB personnel across all sections, with CFO Keeley saying: “With more than 70 prizes to be won, there are opportunities for everyone to join in and have some fun with their colleagues.”

12 DAYS

The 12 Days of Christmas events consisted of a number of challenges and puzzles that started off on 11 Dec with the Dress for Christmas at Work Challenge, with five winners getting a box of donuts for them and their workmates.

The next day was the Family Treasure Hunt, challenging DFB members and their families to locate and snap photos of various items or landmarks in their locality, with four winners receiving vouchers worth 100, 50 or 25.

That was followed by the Best Decorated Scooter, Bike or Vehicle competition, with six winners receiving Eddie Rocket’s vouchers worth 50 or 25.

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CHRISTMAS EVENTS

More decorations were required for Day 4, when members were asked to decorate their workplace, office, or home office for Christmas, with a box of donuts going to four winners.

Day 5 was a Day of Thanks, with cards delivered to those who helped DFB during COVID, with five florist vouchers worth 20 each on offer.

After that, Day 6 brought in some mind games, with a Sudoku Puzzle and Six-word Story competition, with the four best entrants getting Tesco vouchers worth 25 each, while Day 7 was Interactive Day, when members were asked to get their Zoom accounts warmed up for Christmas, with three winners of vouchers worth 80, 50 or 20.

Day 8 brought another challenge, as DFB members were tasked with taking a photo or selfie beside the DFB Mural on Camden Row, with five winners receiving McDonald’s vouchers worth 30 each.

There was another photo-related challenge on Day 9, when entrants were tasked with sending in a photo of themselves with a celebrity or famous person. This could be taken at any time, so there was no need for DFB members to go hunting down famous people, and five winners were rewarded with 30 Eason’s vouchers.

By Day 10 it was time to cool down, so on 20 December came the Christmas or DFB-themed Winter Dip in the sea. The bravest souls to take on this challenge each got a 50 Dunnes Stores voucher for their troubles.

It was back to mental pursuits on Day 11 with the Complete

a Christmas Crossword Puzzle Challenge, with five winners getting a 30 Hodges & Figgis voucher, before the final day tasked members with the challenge of having a photo taken at any DCC Winter Lights project, or any other local authority Christmas event, with four winners getting 50 vouchers for Dublin Zoo. Entries for each day’s events or competitions were open until 11.59pm on the day, with members asked to use Instagram and the handle @dfb12days, or to email dfb12days@gmail.com. We got a great response to this, so thanks to all who took part for helping to bring some Christmas cheer, and for the great photos we received over the course of the 12 days.

SANTA

Though the Christmas Party couldn’t be held, we did organise a Santa Drive Thru Experience, which saw DFB Sports and Social Club members and their families able to make a quick visit to see the man himself two weeks before Christmas.

The socially distant event held in the drill yard at the Training Centre in Marino took place on Sunday, 13 December from 1pm to 5pm, with children encouraged to post their letters and wave to Santa from a safe distance.

With a nod to ‘Elf and Safety’, all DFB members and their families were asked to remain in their cars and comply with the rules on the day, which everybody did, and to add fun to the occasion, prizes were on offer for the best decorated car and the most festive costumes.

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INTERNATIONAL PROFILE Røst Fire Service.

RØST FIRE SERVICE, Røst Fire Chief Tom Ragnar Pedersen talks to Adam Hyland about life and work on a remote Norwegian island.

Fire Chief Tom Ragnar Pedersen.

W

hen it comes to location, you would be hard-pressed to find a more remote place than Røstlandet, a small village in the Røst island municipality off the coast of northern Norway, but for the 16 part-time members of the community’s fire service, this is where they live and work.

Around 500 people call this 10-square-kilometre island off the larger Lofoten Islands home, one of whom is Røst-born Tom Ragnar Pedersen, Fire Chief with the Røst Fire Service.

“I have been Fire Chief for about 25 years,” he tells me. “I am Technical Manager for the community of Røst, which is my main job, but I am also the harbour master, I look after water, waste, a lot of jobs. Overall, my work with the fire service takes up about 15% of my job.”

With such a small population, Fire Chief Pedersen is not the only one

who juggles part-time work with the fire service with another job.

“We have 16 firefighters here, with an emergency manager and two fire commanders, because according to Norwegian Law, there must be a minimum of 16 firefighters in a unit,” he says, “and they have a wide range of jobs, including fishermen, industry workers, and teachers.”

The fire service has just one station, with one fire appliance and an emergency vehicle, but this caters for all eventualities, and members can get to the station to respond to call outs quickly.

“We only have to cover a small distance,” Fire Chief Pedersen says, “and even though our fire station is situated outside of the community at our small airport, it is still close by.”

He adds with a smile: “Everything here is close by.”

CALL OUTS

With members going about their daily lives in a number of industries,

FIRECALL WINTER

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INTERNATIONAL PROFILE Performing a water rescue drill.

Practicing during winter conditions.

gathering them all to respond to a call out can present challenges, but this is streamlined.

“Everybody has an emergency handheld radio which they carry with them,” he tells me. “When we get the emergency message from the control centre in Bodo, we put a call out to our members, and our firefighters can confirm if they can attend or not.

Obviously, with some of our unit working as fishermen, it can sometimes be impossible for them to attend.

“But we do have a very short response time from the alarm until the firefighters have to gather at the fire station. During the day, the response time is four minutes, and at night it is six minutes.

“When we have enough firefighters, we get changed and head out to the emergency. We usually get there within 15 minutes from alarm to arrival. This is a good response time, but then, we are in a very small place,” Fire Chief Pedersen smiles again.

“The average emergency is resolved within one hour, but if it takes longer, people who could not attend at first can join us later. We can have a turnover and let the first group go.

In action at a building fire.

“Some of the firefighters might also have to go back to their main job, so they need to be replaced at the scene.

You are using a lot of a person’s time by having them attend an emergency as well as doing their job, so it is important to have flexibility, and to be able to handle their needs.

“We also have search and rescue operations that we need to do between the surrounding islands,” Fire Chief Pedersen adds. “For anything further out though, offshore rescue is handled by a private rescue helicopter company that we can assist if needed.”

The unit tends to what Fire Chief Pedersen calls “the traditional emergencies” such as RTCs and the occasional fire on a boat in the harbour or in a vehicle, but they are also kept busy with a wide range of other community health and safety tasks.

“Last year, we had a lot of healthcare events,” he tells me. “We have no ambulance here, so we have to help the municipal doctor with a lot of calls. But we also have to help the police with different emergencies.

I say the police, but we have just one policeman on Røst, so he does need our help.

“Being where we are, the weather is also a factor, and we help when there are floods. It is pretty stormy here, so sometimes we have to help out in the community when someone’s roof tiles start to fly away in the wind.”

This playing a role in every aspect of life on such a remote island means that the fire service on Røst is a central part of the community.

“We definitely play a very big role,” Fire Chief Pedersen agrees, “which is important because we don’t just serve the community, we are part of the community. We all work here, and live here.”

ISOLATION

The biggest challenge to the role, Fire Chief Pedersen says, is the fact that the community is so remote, and cut off from other populated areas.

“Because we are so remote, we need to have a streamlined approach,” he says. “The nearest fire station to us is in Bodo, 100km away on the mainland, so it is very difficult for us to get help. The nearest populated island of Værøy is 25km away, which takes two hours by boat, so outside help is difficult to come by. Therefore, we have to be able to work alone, but also to work as a community.”

Having said that, Fire Chief Pedersen believes the members of the Røst fire service enjoy their roles and the part they play in the community, and it is the main reason why people join.

“It’s definitely not the pay,” he says. “The best aspect is that you have a certain status in the community, they look up to firefighters.”

On the flipside of the challenges of living in such a remote place are the benefits of it, and Fire Chief Pedersen is keen to praise his home.

“We are living in nature. We have lots of fishing, lots of birdlife, and we are very free. Every person is a part of the community, and while we of course have all modern conveniences, we are also very far away and isolated from the busy modern world. And it is home.”

WINTER 46 FIRECALL

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ATHLETICS

FF/P Podge Thompson gives a rundown of recent and upcoming DFB Athletics Club events.

KEEP ON

RUNNING WINTER 48 FIRECALL

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ATHLETICS

T

he DFB Athletics Club has continued to work hard since our last update in the summer/autumn issue. We had hoped to take a rest and sit back for a while, but Lockdown 2.0 commenced and we felt the best thing to do was keep going with the many challenges we had created so that all members could be distracted from the situation but at the same time motivated to participate.

BIG JESSIE CHALLENGE

Marathon that same weekend. Six members from HQ completed the marathon, as did three members in Swords, and one member in Ashbourne. With what was a great achievement, we also saw FF/P Sarah Good from No. 12 complete an epic 74.9km challenge that weekend in memory of her friend Aido.

Amazing stuff. We also had a record number of participants complete their first half marathon that weekend. Epic achievements by all it is great to see.

We had the Big Jessie Challenge in 999/112 CHALLENGE memory of S/O Aido O’Grady on the We have just come to the end of October Bank Holiday weekend, and our 999/112 Challenge. This is this was a huge success. We had more a challenge where 200 members than 600 people participate, and they entered at 20 per head. The idea is all wore the Big Jessie Technical Tee, that they commenced the challenge which was designed specifically for the on the 2nd of November (the 11th event. Everyone attempted to walk month, 2nd day - hence the 112), but or run the 7.49km distance over the they had to complete three 9.99km weekend in tribute to Aido’s badge walks or runs within 20 days. If number 749. completed, they were entered into We had a huge contingent join us a live draw where someone wins from An Garda Siochána, as well as 1,500, with a second prize a large number from the of 1,000 and various Dublin Airport fire other cash prizes of services, along with 500 on offer. In firefighters from all, 4,000 Galway, Wicklow, in cash prizes Tipperary, were handed Offaly, out: This is Carlow, Louth, the total sum Waterford, of money Kildare and Cork submitted Fire Services. for entry.

Huge thanks must go to all of them FF/P Podge Thompson.

NEW YEAR for joining us to At the time of writing, we remember Aido. are also in the process of going The family were blown away by through our Athletic Elf Challenge the support shown, and we presented for members’ children. Each child them with a substantial donation from receives a personalised letter everyone towards a memorial bench in from the Elves in the North Pole, Aido’s name. FF/P Geoff Tracey also who we are working with for a presented the family with a specially Mini Challenge for them in early commissioned painting, which is an December. We are working with amazing piece of work. the RSA on this also, so each child MARATHONS will be presented with a high viz On top of that, we had huge numbers jacket and a few accessories prior complete the Dublin City Virtual to commencing the challenge on

December 1st - again, the 1st day of the 12th month (112).

The plan is that they will have to complete 3 x 1.12km walks or runs and a series of exercise challenges: 9 exercises, 9 times for 9 mins (999), and these involve a few nice challenges that are fun for the kids to try at home. Each child gets a personalised letter to their home with a check-off list. On completion, they will update the Athletic Elf, who will be checking the list twice, and a surprise Christmas bag is sent out to them.

We have also been looking at doing a small Couch to 5k Challenge over Christmas and New Year. Cash prizes are proving very popular, so this will be a 5km challenge where one person will win all of the total entry fee sum.

This is limited to 200 entrants again as my phone tends to hop with messages, but we think it is a good idea to help keep people interested and moving.

We will be looking at solutions to the raising of funds for challenges, and the ways in which they are organised and run, as these are becoming increasingly popular, so members should watch this space.

NEW YORK

Finally, we also sent out an Expression of Interest form to all Athletics Club members who would like to participate in the New York City Marathon next year. It will be their 50th anniversary marathon, and it is also the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and we are hopeful that we will be able to get packs and join our colleagues in FDNY. We have had a record number of 63 people show a positive interest in entering so far. It is only in its infancy, but that is a big goal of DFBAC next year.

The Athletics Club is a great way to get involved with the greater Sports and Social Club, and we encourage you to sign up and join in by mailing us at dfbathletics@gmail.com

FIRECALL WINTER

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STATION PROFILE

STATION PROFILE B WATCH PHIBSBORO ON A SUNNY DAY, B WATCH AT PHIBSBORO SHOW ADAM HYLAND THAT LIFE IS NEVER DULL.

Gareth Carberry, Darragh Martin, D/O Colm Kershaw, S/O Gregg Hannon and Cathal Roche pose for a socially distant photo.

W

ith social distancing still very much on everyone’s minds, it was fortunate that I got to visit B Watch Phibsboro on a clear and sunny November day, which meant it was possible to meet and talk to the crew in the yard.

S/O Gregg Hannon, who has been with B Watch here since 2017 following time at HQ and Swords, welcomes me in and we sit by the station’s Garden of Reflection to talk about life at the station.

“I like it here,” he is quick to tell me. “We are lucky at this station that we have enough space to be able to do

our drills and exercises under current circumstances. And we are kept busy with a large variety of callouts.”

With two fire appliances, a rescue tender, an ambulance and a D/O’s vehicle, the station handles calls from the north inner city out to west Dublin, with fires and RTCs the main incidents.

With rivers nearby, there is also an SRT team with a floating platform on the rescue tenders as well as a specialist High Line team, who are busy doing a drill in the tower behind us as we speak.

“Ollie Dunne, Alan Moore and Peter Conroy are up there now,” S/O Hannon tells me. “The High

Line entails a lot of work in terms of training and upkeep of skills. It’s not just about the skills each individual has, but also how everybody works as a team, so on weekends when we are not on calls out, we do a simulated rescue.”

The high-density areas surrounding Phibsboro also mean that B Watch are kept busy, and there have been many changes that keep the crew on their toes.

“There has been a massive development in the last two years in Grangegorman, with a lot of student accommodation, while Stoneybatter is always a vibrant, growing area, and there has been a lot of change in

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STATION PROFILE terms of traffic flow,” S/O Hannon tells me. “That requires constant familiarisation, having to go out and assess whether there are any problems, and that all takes time.”

The biggest change in recent times, however, is of course that brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Even with COVID, there is still a lot of building and development around us,” S/O Hannon tells me.

“While there aren’t as many students at the moment due to restrictions, that in itself can present a challenge because buildings are designed to be lived in. There is a risk in having so many unoccupied or semi-occupied buildings. In some ways an empty building can be more dangerous than an occupied one.

“The prep and after care with the ambulance also takes longer. People have to gown up, but what tends to take longer is the aftermath, the proper cleaning. But it just has to be done, and the procedures brought in ensure that we have reduced the time it is taking as much as possible.

“Looking at the latest figures, DFB will go beyond the 100,000 mark for ambulance callouts this year soon, and it is only the start of November, so when you consider the amount of ambulances we have, it shows how busy the people on the ambulance are, and at our station it’s no different.

S/O Gregg Hannon.

You really have to take your hat off to them, and not only the people on the ambulance but those who train them.

We are lucky to have an advanced paramedic here in Niall O’Reilly.”

PROTOCOLS I ask how life within the station has been affected by COVID-19, and S/O Hannon is quick to point out that the emphasis on following protocols and procedures is helping to keep B Watch as safe as possible.

“Guidance has come from management, and there has been a lot of communication about it,” he says. “We run a system to keep pods in place, so whoever is on one engine or ambulance is on that for the entire shift, whoever is on the ambulance doesn’t do the kitchen, etc, trying to minimise the risks for everybody. We are so aware of everything we need to do before, during and after call outs, we are very diligent, so tuned in to the precautions we have to take.

“Everybody comes to work, does what they have to do, and there is a great sense of trust and belief that if we follow all procedures and relevant precautions, we are doing everything we can do to protect ourselves.

MORALE “Morale has been good. We have a sense of normality because we can

still come into work and do our job, and there is always a good sense of camaraderie. There is some difference in that obviously we can’t sit around with each other, but we are busy enough so there is never that much downtime anyway. What we tend to do is let drills go on longer, and that becomes your socialising. As a result, there is still a lot of craic between all of us.”

This is clear when we are joined

by FF/Ps Cathal Roche, Darragh Martin and Gareth Carberry, who immediately start up the banter. When I ask them how they are managing to keep morale high, FF/P Roche answers immediately: “We slag the crap out of each other.”

“Our most senior crew member is Cathal, who joined 25 years ago, while our youngest was brought in from the Class of 2019,” S/O Hannon points out between the jokes. “We have seen a few changes in the last couple of years.

Our two Sub-Officers got promoted so they have left us, and we have had a few recruits come in. Because of the size of the place you have 17 people on duty, including officers and D/O Colm Kershaw, so there will always be a bit of turnover. But we have been very lucky with the new crew members.

“It’s great to have such enthusiastic young FF/Ps come in who are prepared to learn. The three most recent have been great additions to the team, and you need to have that, both for the work and the slagging. The older guys tend to feed off their enthusiasm.”

“Behind all the slagging, these new members are all very good people as well,” FF/P Roche points out.

“Personally, I still look forward to coming into work. They are a great team. Best place I ever worked.

“There is great variety here too,” he adds. “There are so many different call outs in a wide area, so it keeps you interested all the time.”

As the newest member, FF/P Carberry, who FF/P Roche describes as “a local boy done good” because he hails from Cabra, agrees with the sentiment and says he thoroughly enjoys working with this Watch.

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STATION PROFILE

Putting the Hi-Ab through its paces.

The High Line team start an exercise.

“It was really easy to settle in here, thanks to the lads,” he says. “I spent a few months on the ambulance at first, which was hard because I wasn’t spending a lot of time with them, and I am quite shy, but after that I got to know the lads better and they are always looking after me here. It was great to start getting my hands dirty on the engines and doing a bit of work with the other lads, and from there it was easy to fit in and be one of the team. I really enjoy it.”

S/O Hannon adds: “You can see that we are a busy station. The engines have been in and out all morning, so it is a great station to get that hands-on experience all firefighters need, and everyone here enjoys the job and gets along really well.”

REFLECTION As we stand in the yard, talk turns to the Garden of Reflection behind us, which for B Watch is an important part of the station. Some of the crew, including FF/P Martin, worked with B Watch member Leon Rafferty, whose passing in 2013 initiated its construction, and the group reflect on the fact that his anniversary is approaching in December.

“Leon was part of the clan here, and every year we give a gift to his wife and family,” FF/P Martin tells me. “We go up to the cemetery on his anniversary, and remember him in our Garden, but also all other firefighters who died on the job or who have passed away after retiring.”

“The idea to have a place where you could remember passed DFB members, or just sit and gather your thoughts was important,’ FF/P Roche adds. “We also remember other DFB members such as Ian Frodo McCormack, and most days after dinner a few of the team will come out here.”

FF/P Martin suddenly cracks a joke that brings laughter all round and lifts the mood at the drop of a hat.

The sense of high morale and great camaraderie is once more brought to the fore as the group head off to test the Hi-Ab, focused on their work but still finding time to “slag the crap out of each other”.

COMMUNITY With the annual Open Day cancelled this year, I ask S/O Hannon about the sense of community spirit that is always evident in Phibsboro, and how COVID may have affected it.

“The community spirit here is still very good,” he says, “and while we can’t have our Open Day, the team are all still very proactive in community events. We still get people coming up to the station and looking in the windows, and we are happy to talk to them at a safe distance and tell them that when all of this is over, they are very welcome to come back and we will show them around.

“The engagement and positivity from the community is still there, and it makes it much easier to keep the morale up when you know you are appreciated.

“You’ve got to put things in perspective and look at the big picture.

Yes, we are under pressure with the COVID situation, you have to be extra cautious, but that is what we signed up to do, and yes there is the added stress of not wanting to bring home an infection, but that’s nothing compared to the stress involved for people who have lost their job during the pandemic – that’s real pressure.”

The banter and laughing in the yard continues, showing that while there is pressure involved with working here, B Watch have the morale and camaraderie to deal with it with a smile on their faces.

WINTER 52 FIRECALL

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APPEAL

The Firehouse Five in 1964.

FIREHOUSE FIVE O Businessman Phil Chambers recounts his time with DFB musicians and asks for information on a long-lost friend.

ne of the positive things that came out of ‘Lockdown’ was that it gave me the time, inclination and incentive to do some serious decluttering. It was then, while sorting out some old files in the attic, that I came across the photo of the ‘Firehouse Five’ band I was a part of, taken in the Crofton Airport Hotel in 1964.

To say that it brought back many memories would be an understatement. I began to wonder where the other members were now. Were they still alive? Had they married? If so, what had they done with their lives?

And so, as the old saying goes – if you don’t ask, the answer is always no – and I decided to send a copy of the photo to Chief Fire Officer Dennis Keeley, and asked for his help. Within days I was talking to Las Fallon, the DFB historian, who was very quickly able to tell me that two of the group, Colin Smart and Dermot Dowd, had sadly passed away. Later on, he told me that Seamus ‘Shay’ Gallagher had also passed away. He then suggested that if I was to write a little piece about the group for Firecall, someone might have memories and stories to tell of what happened to them.

FIRECALL WINTER

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APPEAL

SO, WHO WERE THE FIREHOUSE FIVE?

No songs were beyond the capabilities of this bunch of young men: From Akerbilk’s Stranger on the Shore to Gerry and the Pacemaker’s You’ll Never walk Alone, from jazz numbers like Rhondo a la Turk to the Beatle’s She Loves You. For us, those were the days, and we really believed they would never end.

It began for me in 1963 when I answered an advertisement in the Evening Press: Wanted, vocalist for dance group, recently returned from a Tour of Germany! That was the start of a year to remember.

I never did find out what exactly the tour of Germany consisted of but I got the distinct impression that it did include a tour of many beer halls. I was told that Paul McArdle, who had just joined the group, went to Germany as a Teetotaller, but he didn’t come back as one!

As well as McArdle, who was a twinkle-fingered piano player and electrician from Dundalk, the band was originally made up of four firefighters stationed in Pearse Street.

I was to replace the talented Jessie Owens who, on returning from Germany, had left the group to pursue a ballad career, forming a successful duo with Anne Byrne and going on to make many records and TV appearances, as well as being regular performers at the Abbey Tavern in Howth.

Shay Gallagher was the bass guitar and fiddle player. He was also our sound engineer – if the amplifier didn’t work, a kick often sorted that out!

Dermot Dowd was an award-winning clarinet player who could make snakes dance. Finally, Colin Smart kept everyone in time with his drumming and his efforts to stop the constant messing that went on. Many a time he threatened to pack up his gear and leave in the middle of a gig.

While there were no obvious gigs lined up, rehearsals began immediately.

Apparently, we never advertised - the group depending solely on personal

The band name changed frequently, and at one dance were called the Angel Showband.

contacts. These contacts were large manufacturing companies such as Cadburys and Jacobs, and most of what we did for them was Dinner Dances and Staff Dances, sometimes held in hotels but often in the factory canteen.

Every Wednesday night, Shay would collect me at my flat and we would convene in the front room of one of the lad’s home in Crumlin.

Immediately Colin would set up his drum kit and Shay the amplification.

Once that was done it was time to visit the local pub. Two hours later, we would return and rehearse for about one hour.

When the time came to do a gig – nothing changed – set up the gear, and then head for the pub – or go to the pub, set up the gear, and back to the pub - just to relax before the gig started!

Of course, the secret to our success was that apart from me, all the lads were brilliant natural musicians and could play with their eyes closed – which Dermot invariably did while leaning back against the wall.

Shay, who had a 30 foot lead on his bass guitar, was liable to leave the band stand and wander around in front of the stage – chatting up anyone he fancied. On more than one occasion, certain members of the band were warned by irate men to stop chatting up their girlfriends!

One of the big problems for groups formed in the 1960s was that of evading the Taxman and the Federation of Musicians, hence our reticence to stick to one traceable name, and the added difficulty of tracing our band members.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and in August 1964 I was transferred to Cork. At the same time, Shay was trying to balance working as a firefighter, singing with a somewhat dysfunctual group, and at the same time backing Jessie Owens and Anne Byrne on his fiddle in the Abbey Tavern and appearing on TV. As mentioned, sadly Colin, Dermot and Shay have passed away, and now memories are all that are left of a very exciting and fun-filled time in my life. No doubt the lads are now entertaining their many deceased friends in Heaven – with Dermot still playing Stanger on the Shore as he did for so many retirement occasions in the Fire Brigade community, with Colin keeping strict time on the drums.

But where is Paul? Does anybody who remembers these men from their time in the DFB remember them mentioning him, or what happened to him? And do you or your family have any memories of the group? If you do, I would love to hear from you through the editor.

FIRECALL WINTER

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DFB HISTORY

DFB members who volunteered to assist their comrades in Cork in 1920.

DFB IN THE TAN WAR, 1920 I

While public centenary commemorations are on hold, we can still remember DFB members’ roles in the events of 1920, writes DFB Historian Las Fallon.

nitially, I had planned an article on the burning of Cork City by the Crown Forces in December 1920, and the DFB response to an appeal for assistance from Cork. I will cover that here, but also want to look at that whole last quarter of 1920 and how some events involved members of DFB in roles that have been overlooked.

Like many historians, I looked forward to this year with great anticipation. 1920 was the year when the struggle for independence

became a countrywide fight, and I had hoped the year would be full of commemorations similar to what we saw in 2016 for the centenary of the Rising. COVID-19 has put an end to that, and it has been left to local communities and local authorities to mark the events of 100 years ago.

I was delighted to see the involvement of firefighters from Balbriggan in commemorative events in that town to mark the reign of terror by the RIC/Black and Tans on 21 September 1920. As was almost always

the case during the Revolution, DFB did not leave the city to attend that fire, which was considered ‘out of area’.

In his annual report, Captain Myers notes that the Brigade did not attend fires in Balbriggan, an outbreak ‘due to armed incendiarists’. He did not mention that the incendiarists, and indeed murderers on the night, were policemen.

The previous month, on 15 August 1920, an IRA unit had staged its spectacular raid at Kingsbridge Railway Station when they had overpowered a

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DFB HISTORY

British Army squad guarding railway wagons full of military equipment. The IRA unit captured ten rifles, a revolver and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition before tying up the hapless Tommies and setting fire to the carriages.

On arrival, the Chief Officer refused to intervene on the grounds that the railway authorities and military made no attempt to put out the fire and that it was linked to an industrial dispute. By this period, DFB was not interfering with any military actions by the IRA. I have looked at this in some detail in my books Dublin Fire Brigade and the Irish Revolution (2012) and The Firemen’s Tale (2015) and in articles elsewhere.

Captain Myers with his DFB unit who helped bring Cork’s blazes under control.

The DFB crew sent to Kingsbridge.

BLACK AND TANS

The last quarter of 1920 was particularly bloody. In Dublin, the raid on troops at Monks Bakery on Church Street had led to the capture and execution of 18-year-old Dublin Brigade Volunteer Kevin Barry. The British forces, and especially the Royal Irish Constabulary, had been reinforced by demobilised soldiers recruited more for their combat experience than any suitability for a role as policemen.

The ‘Black and Tans’ – named for their early members being outfitted in a mix of RIC bottle green (almost black) and British Army khaki – and a second group, the Auxiliary Division, or ‘the Auxies’. The Auxies were ex commissioned officers of the British forces, designed to be a special forcestype unit, operating in well-armed, independent companies.

Through November, the Auxies put their stamp on the situation. A priest suspected of IRA sympathies, Fr Griffin of Galway, was abducted and shot dead on 14 November. Four prisoners were bayoneted to death at Scarrif, Co Clare on 18 November, and on 26 November the two Loughnane brothers in Galway were captured by Auxies, tortured and executed by having hand grenades detonated in their mouths.

The Auxiliaries’ first casualties came on 21 November 1920 in Dublin during what became known as Bloody Sunday.

Two Auxies making their way to their HQ at Beggars Bush were captured and shot by an IRA unit. The series of IRA executions of British secret service officers carried out that morning had been facilitated by the work of the IRA’s General Headquarters intelligence staff, relying on intelligence operatives, including Dublin firemen, who had carried out surveillance. As one of the few groups who could travel through the city during curfew, they were able to observe the movements of suspected men.

Later that day in a planned reprisal, members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and Auxies went to the Dublin/Tipperary football game at Croke Park and opened fire on the crowd. DFB ambulances were quickly on the scene and Firemen Michael Rogers and Ned Doyle removed the body of Michael Hogan from the pitch.

Another ambulance with 1916 veteran and later CFO Joe Connolly, took another casualty, Michael Traynor from the family home of former Dublin Lord Mayor Nial Ring where he had been taken for first aid by the Ring brothers (themselves 1916 veterans).

THE BURNING OF CORK

On 28 November an ambush by the 3rd West Cork Brigade flying column at

Kilmichael near Macroom wiped out a patrol of 17 Auxies. The British forces were left reeling and prepared a major reprisal on the population of Cork On 11 December 1920, an Auxie mobile patrol from Victoria (now Collins) Barracks in Cork City was ambushed at Dillons Cross. One Auxiliary, Cadet Chapman, was killed and several others wounded. Very shortly, Auxies and regular British troops arrived and burned local houses, before entering Cork city centre to begin an orgy of destruction. The scale of the fires was soon beyond the capacity of the Cork City Fire Brigade who were fired on by British troops and had their hoses cut by bayonets. City Hall and the Carnegie library were set on fire, and the Chief of the Cork City Brigade appealed for help to Dublin Fire Brigade.

The appeal was received and for the only time during the period it was decided to send an engine and crew out of the city limits. Captain Myers appealed for volunteers and chose Firemen Bernard Matthews, James Barry, Christopher McDonagh, James Keane, Nicolas Seaver, Joe Connolly and Michael Rogers. They travelled by special train and arrived in the early hours of the morning.

The Dublin crew helped to bring the major blazes under control, with Myers and his men amazed at the level of destruction, which they compared to Dublin in the aftermath of the Rising. I have identified Michael Rogers as an IRA Volunteer, as was Joe Connolly, an Irish Citizen Army veteran of 1916, while James Keane is identified in one account as an IRA intelligence operative.

Christopher McDonagh’s action at the Custom House the following year would lead to the escape of four IRA men dressed as firefighters. Again, this is just another pointer to the involvement of Dublin firefighters in our fight for freedom. Hopefully when COVID recedes and we return to some normality, we can revisit some of this year’s lost centenaries and celebrate them with a ‘100+1’ series of events.

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RETIRED MEMBERS

RETIRED MEMBER PROFILE Paddy O’Mahony

Paddy and his wife Pauline with President Higgins at an Irish Heart and Lung Transplant Association event.

Former D/O Paddy O’Mahony talks to Adam Hyland about his career and second chance at life.

A

s a former firefighter who rose to the rank of D/O, Paddy O’Mahony gained a lot of experience and saw a great deal in his career, but is more than happy to now spend his time at home relaxing, or “becoming a lazy individual” as he puts it.

Enjoying his life now is even more poignant considering that in 2010, aged 57, he was diagnosed with an aggressive

form of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a debilitating disease that saw him given just three years to live.

A lung transplant gave him a second chance, and his return to health is an experience that ranks as high as any of those he gained in his career as a firefighter, he tells me.

That career began in February 1978 when Paddy left a job in the post office to join Dublin Fire Brigade. “It might sound like a cliché,” he tells me,

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RETIRED MEMBERS

Paddy with Dublin GAA star Michael Darragh McAuley launching a fundraising cycling event.

“but I wanted to serve the public.

So, I joined up, and after training in Kilbarrack, I was sent to Tara Street on B Watch, and after a year there was sent out to Finglas.”

Following several years serving in Finglas, Paddy was promoted to SubOfficer and returned to Tara Street on B Watch.

“I was a little apprehensive when I first became a Sub-Officer,” he says, “because instead of taking orders I was giving them, and sometimes to firefighters who were a hell of a lot more senior than I was and had more operational experience. But after a while I bedded into the role and realised that it wasn’t as cut and dried as that, and that I had something to offer. I enjoyed it more then.”

CHANGE

After six years as Sub-Officer, Paddy was promoted to Station Officer and was sent to Phibsoro station, and took the change in his stride. “The transition from firefighter to SubOfficer was big but the transition from Sub-Officer to Station Officer wasn’t as dramatic, because you had partly been doing the work of an S/O anyway,” he tells me. “Changing stations a lot didn’t matter to me, because while the surroundings and the faces might be a bit different, the

actual job remained the same, and I enjoyed the job.”

Becoming “a floater”, Paddy moved around to various stations depending on their needs, before he was once more sent to Finglas where he was a relief S/O, and began training recruits on various pieces of equipment and became a BA Instructor.

After several more years he was again on the move, this time stationed in Rathfarnham, where he served for three years, then C Watch in Blanchardstown, before returning to Tara Street as a Senior S/O on A Watch.

“After all of that, I was sent back to Phibsboro A Watch on a permanent basis,” he says, “and was there a few years before I became D/O and moved to Finglas. I must say I enjoyed working in every station, but I especially liked the good many years I spent in Finglas, both as a firefighter and an officer, because I was brought up in Finglas and knew the area well. I felt comfortable there.”

EXPERIENCE

The final move was back to Tara Street D Watch, where Paddy became Mobilisation Officer, but he tells me that in his time as a firefighter, he saw a huge variety of incidents that all helped him build up a large volume of knowledge and experience.

“When faced with some bad situations, your humanity kicks in and sometimes you ask how something could have happened, but you also have to approach it as a situation that has to be dealt with,” he says. “DFB has been on the frontline for more than a century, they are almost always the first on the scene, so you have to be able to deal with whatever you face.”

That building up of experience was, and is, important to Paddy, and he is keen to point out that the knowledge shared by other firefighters helped him immensely when it came to his own career.

“The thing is that it is important to listen to those around you,” he tells me. “One of the beauties of the Fire Brigade is that a lot of tradesmen come into the job – carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers – who have a lot of knowledge, and that is why it is important to get to know the people you work with, because you can gain great knowledge from them and their experiences.”

He gives an example of a callout that involved an articulated truck crashing into a petrol station forecourt with the vehicle stopping right above two pumps. “I was looking at the situation with no idea how to get the truck off the pumps,” he says, “but one of the lads, who was a mechanic, explained and showed me what to do. When the job was done, I said thanks to him, because if he hadn’t shared his knowledge, I would still be standing there scratching my head.

“I always remember he said ‘thanks for listening to me’, and that meant a lot to me, because I appreciated what he had told me, but he also appreciated that I had recognised the part he had played, and was willing to take on board his experience and use it.

“There were a few incidents like that where lads with specific knowledge

“I always enjoyed going to work, and when I finished one shift, I looked forward to the next one” FIRECALL WINTER

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RETIRED MEMBERS

NEW LIFE

Former D/O Paddy O’Mahony.

or experience were able to suggest the best way to do something, and I learned from them. But you have to be open to these suggestions. It makes life easier if you are prepared to listen to others and learn from them. In order to be a part of a good working team you need to be able to do that and put what you have learned into practice the next time, and pass on your experience after that.”

HEALTH

Back in Tara Street as Mobilisation Officer, life took a sudden turn for Paddy in 2010.

“I got to the stage where I was having difficulty going up and down the stairs at work, so I went to my GP, who sent me to Beaumont Hospital for tests,” he tells me. “They thought I had TB, but after more tests, the next day the doctor told me I actually had Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

That information went over my head, so I asked him to explain, and he told me that I had scarring of the lungs.

“I was shocked when I asked for a prognosis and he told me I had two and a half to three years to live. I just sat there beside my wife trying to take it all in, I couldn’t believe it, it didn’t seem real because while I was having trouble breathing, I didn’t feel that unwell.”

Paddy returned to work, knowing that time was not on his side, and while hooked up to oxygen,

continued in his job as a way to deal with the situation and not feel “like a patient”. He was put on a transplant list and eventually in 2013, when time was running out, he underwent surgery to receive a donor lung, and nine days later was back home, even taking to his bike for exercise.

“I was very lucky, and I am very grateful to the family of the donor, and that I have been able to recover,” he says, “and I was able to return to work within the year. I was very lucky in that at the time of my diagnosis my job meant I didn’t have to turn out anymore, because as a D/O, I didn’t have to do manual work, I was paid from the neck up, so to speak.

Other officers also helped out by giving me their leave, which was very kind of them.”

With a new lease of life, Paddy looked to repay what he could and within DFB organised charity cycling fundraisers for the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association and the Irish Heart and Lung Transplant Association, which he became chairman of, with the help of FF/P Brendan Lodola and his brother Mario. He also helped raise awareness for organ donation and took part in the European Transplant Games in 2014 where he took home a medal for golf.

Paddy also decided after a period back in work that by 2014 it was time to retire, and looking back, he says he has “nothing but admiration and praise for DFB members” but knew when it was time to leave.

“I got to the stage where I had been in the job for 37 years, and didn’t need to keep doing it,” he says. “I had done my service and earned my retirement, after working all my life.

“The downside,” he adds, “is that you can lose a sense of purpose. I also miss the comradeship and the bit of craic, and there is a great black humour in the job that I really enjoyed. I always enjoyed going to work, there was never a day I didn’t look forward to going in, and when I finished one shift, I looked forward to the next one. I have to say I enjoyed my time in DFB 100%, and if someone was to ask me if I would go back and do it all again, I would definitely be happy to do it.”

Paddy with TV presenter and Organ Donor Awareness Week ambassador Mary Kennedy launching Organ Donor Awareness Week in 2015.

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BINGE WATCH BINGE WATCH

We’re still spending a lot of time at home, so here’s some more of the best streaming TV shows to feast on.

AWAY

One series, Netflix Hilary Swank leads an international cast as the chief astronaut on the first crewed mission to Mars in this sci-fi drama that leaps between the action on board the spaceship and the down to earth family drama involving their loved ones taking place back down on our home planet. With each crew member on the threeyear expedition having any number of issues to deal with regarding their personal lives back home, there’s enough drama to keep you interested throughout, and that’s before we get to the problems of crew discontent, dangerous technical crises and the struggle to maintain mental fortitude on such a long and perilous journey.

LOVE/HATE Five series, RTÉ Player RTE Player made the clever decision to include the homegrown, Dublin-based crime drama in its library of past programmes, and it’s worth going back to the start to see that this seminal, gritty series is actually one of the best bits of TV Ireland has produced in some time. If you can forgive the few moments of dodgy acting early on from some of the up and coming stars of Irish stage and screen (Robert Sheehan, Ruth Negga and Barry Keoghan, to name a few), it’s one to dive into and watch through to the bitter end. Even if the antics of Nidge, Fran and Darren don’t pull you in, it’s fun to try to identify the locations where all the action is set.

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Three series, Amazon

A comedy drama about a family of New York Jewish intellectuals in 1950 and 1960s America may not seem like the obvious viewing choice, but diving into this multi-award-winning series is an easily enjoyable way to while away the hours. Rachel Brosnahan excels as the smart, young wife and mother of two whose husband suddenly leaves her, and with no clue what to do next, finds herself starting a burgeoning career as a stand-up comedian.

While dealing with issues of race and religion throughout, it never gets preachy, and the dialogue remains witty and sharp through each of the first three series, with a fourth reportedly on the way.

Hunters One series, Amazon Prime Possibly inspired by the comic-book feel of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, this series about a predominantly Jewish Nazi-hunting squad set in 1970s America is pure entertainment. Balancing poignant details about the horrors inflicted on Jewish prisoners in Nazi concentration camps in WW2 with bloodthirsty revenge plots and outright pulp fiction schlock, it tells the story of a shy teenager who ends up joining

a motley crew of crack avengers led by Al Pacino’s Jewish philanthropist as they try to root out a number of Nazis who fled to the US after the war. Using false identities, these war criminals have ingratiated themselves into society, and as the avenging team discover more and more of them in their midst, the stage is set to reveal conspiracies that go right to the top of American society. Put your feet up, relax your brain, and enjoy.

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BINGE WATCH

Cobra Kai Two series

(with two more on the way), Netflix

Criminal UK Two series, Netflix The best scenes in Line of Duty are those set in the interrogation room, and fans of that internal affairs crime drama will love Criminal UK. With almost the entire scenario based in that same setting, the building tension as determined police try to outwit suspects through incisive questioning leads to nail-biting drama and shocking twists. It was a brave move from Netflix to produce a first series consisting of 12 episodes across four countries (France, Spain, Germany and the UK), with three in each language, but this mental game of cat and mouse works very well. Big name stars such as David Tennant and Hayley Atwell in the first series were joined by the likes of Kit Harington and The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar (really) in the second four-episode series, with all of their characters put through their paces as they try not to slip up and give themselves away. It’s like a boiled down battle of wits you might see if Columbo or Poirot got into the interrogation room, but with the added ‘for the benefit of the tape’ motifs thrown in for good measure.

The Fall Three series, Netflix, Amazon Prime This Irish-British collaboration set in Northern Ireland was one of the most compelling pieces of TV when it first aired in 2013, and it’s well worth going back to, or starting if you missed it the first time around. Gillian Anderson plays the detective seconded to the PSNI to try to capture a serial killer played

by Jamie Dornan, who has so far eluded police capture and continues to murder women in and around Belfast. It’s great drama and creepy throughout, with complex storylines and an intriguing building relationship between killer and pursuer. It was a brave step to reveal the killer’s identity early on, with the focus not on the who, but the why and how, as Dornan’s character goes about his successful professional family life by day, while committing horrific crimes after dark.

Nothing beats a bit of nostalgia viewing, and with Cobra Kai, we get a return to the rivalry between The Karate Kid’s Danny Larusso and his bully Johnny “sweep the leg” Lawrence. Set 34 years after the one pupil of Mr Miyagi overcame all odds to defeat Cobra Kai’s most vicious star at the All Valley Karate Tournament, we find Johnny now down at heels, with nothing to reflect on but his glory days as a teenager. In contrast to Danny’s position as a successful businessman, Johnny’s attempts to turn his life around spurs his reopening the Cobra Kai karate school, rekindling that rivalry. With drama and comedy intertwined, this brings back all those memories of trying out that crane manoeuvre, but the best thing about this series is that we are left very unsure who the good guy is anymore.

The Knick Two series, Now TV Clive Owen hams it up as a groundbreaking surgeon in this engrossing two-series period medical drama set in New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital during the early years of the 20th century. Amidst the usual hospital politics and relationship dramas, it takes a sometimes gory look at the new surgical techniques that started to come into practice to replace outdated procedures during a time of medical enlightenment, with the best bits depicting how much trial and error was involved - sometimes with horrific results – as well as the casual misunderstanding of the effects of new drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Bono’s daughter Eve Hewson also stars as a naïve nurse who learns how to get ahead through any means necessary.

The Mandalorian Two series, Disney+

Star Wars fans waited in nervous anticipation for this web series that first aired in 2019. Would it herald a return to form or go the way of the second trilogy? Thankfully, this first live action series from Jon Favreau turned out to be surprisingly good, with bounty hunter Pedro Pascal wandering beyond the reaches of the New Republic five years after the events of The Return of the Jedi, with a Yoda-like infant in tow. The second series is out now, so fans of a galaxy far, far away can sit back and enjoy a host of new cameos and knowing nods to the original space saga.

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STAND OUT STATIONS

TRAVEL

We can’t travel anywhere for a while, but we can still look around the world to see some unusual fire stations you can visit on a busman’s holiday in the future.

Margreid, South Tyrol, Italy This fire station in the heart of wine country in South Tyrol has the look and feel of a James Bond villain’s lair or a superhero HQ. Built into a cave in the mountainous region, the only outer-facing walls are those of the main entrance and the engine bay, with the three naturallyformed caverns inside housing vehicles, apparatus and an administrative office, connected to smaller tunnels. The reason why the station was built into a sheer cliff of rock is because the local community wanted to preserve as much of the surrounding fertile agricultural land as possible in order to grow the grapes they depend on. Because the space was bored into the mountain rock, it maintains the same temperature inside all year round, with a dense, hard concrete used to prevent damage and injury from falling rocks.

Taoyuan, Taiwan

Vitra Fire Station, Weil am Rhein, Germany This is a curious instance of a building being considered too good for its original purpose. When the Vitra factory campus at Weil am Rhein near the German-Swiss border was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1981, the owners realised that their rebuild needed to include a fire station.

They turned to avant garde artist-turned architect Zaha Hadid to design the building, who conceived of the narrow building as an extension of the surrounding landscape.

A long, narrow structure, the building is composed of a series of linear concrete walls and roof elements that make it look simplistic and logical, but these are punctured, tilted or folded in order to maximise the internal spaces for necessary activities, access and airflow. The resulting impression is one of “frozen movement”, which the designer thought fitting for a fire station that must remain on constant alert, and a reflection of the potential to burst into action at any moment. Unfortunately, the Vitra owners changed their mind about its function and instead of using it as an ultra-modern fire station, decided to turn it into an exhibition space.

One of the many fire stations in the city of Taoyuan really stands out, because it was designed to include a public park on its roof. This wasn’t just a refreshing idea to free up more space for citizens to relax in, it also had the purpose of integrating the building into its surroundings and to ensure that views of a nearby temple were not hindered. Situated in a pre-existing public park, the building was designed to elevate the green aspect while building the station underneath, consisting of two main structures connected by a bridge that goes through the parking area. The open-sided doorless design enables a fast reaction to emergencies and easy coordination of vehicles, although it is somewhat strange that it is so open, particularly when the green area that has grass and other vegetation maintained on it, invites locals to come and hang around in the area.

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TRAVEL Creede, Colorado The residents of the picturesque town of Creede in Colorado had a similar idea to those in Margreid, and decided to locate their fire station underground. With no money to build a fire station of their own in the 1980s, the volunteer fire department teamed up with a local mining company, who donated the blasting materials and workers needed to build a bespoke underground station. Consisting of a series of tunnels underneath a mountain, the fire trucks are parked in their own burrows while a small chief’s office, turnout room and equipment store were built off to the side of the main area. Also similar to Margreid, the volunteers at Creede now have a fire station that can’t burn and doesn’t need air conditioning, while they got around the initial difficulties of reversing into the tight caverns of solid rock by painting yellow stripes on the floor so that drivers can easily guide the vehicles in.

Houten Fire Station, Utrecht, Netherlands

Fire Station 23, Los Angeles You might recognise this fire station because it was the interior location for some well-known films including Police Academy 2, The Mask, Flatliners, Big Trouble In Little China, and most famously Ghostbusters (although the external shots for that film were from Hook and Ladder Company 8 in New York). Built in 1910, it served as LA’s firefighting HQ for a decade, but caused controversy for its overly ornate décor, leading to it being nicknamed “The Taj Mahal of fire houses”. It closed in 1960 and fell into disrepair, becoming a haven for the homeless in Skid Row, but found a new lease of life in the 1980s when Hollywood filmmakers took note of its usefulness and it became the setting for Drs Venkman, Stantz and Spengler as they started their new venture in the paranormal extermination business.

Goathland Fire Station, Yorkshire, UK If you think your fire station is cramped, spare a thought for the volunteer firefighters at Goathland in Yorkshire, where nine of them have to share a 15x20 foot garage with their one vehicle, a Land Rover carrying all of their equipment. The smallest fire station in the world is a stone garage donated by locals, which contains a filing cabinet used as a stop point for the reversing Land Rover, and has no running water or facilities (volunteers have keys to a public toilet nearby), other than a kettle. Despite the size of their base, the volunteers deal with the same call outs as any other fire station, including RTCs, house fires in the village near Whitby, and fires on the Yorkshire Moors.

Forward thinking and in tune with the environment, the Dutch fire station in Houten, just outside Utrecht, is both eye-catching and extremely functional. Inspired by miles of allotments nearby, the building was made using the principles of greenhouse design to be partially transparent. The clear and simple design puts a focus on logistics so that everything is in the optimum space, but there is also an eye on sustainability and the environment with the timber framework structure supporting double walls of recycled transparent plastic sheets that makes it very easy to rebuild if necessary. The materials used also result in significant savings in material usage and energy consumption.

One interior wall is also covered in paintings by local schoolchildren, giving them an outlet for their artistic creativity in an attempt to discourage vandalism.

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08/12/2020 13:08

Do you have an interesting story or topic to share, or would you like to submit an article for consideration for our next issue?

We love to hear from Dublin Fire Brigade personnel both serving and retired – stories and memories from your career, interesting events, technology and training, questions, comments and much more besides.

For further information contact the editor on 01 432 2241 or email adam.hyland@ashvillemediagroup.com

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Emergency Services News From Around the Globe.

✶

USA

MEXICO

Five people in the county of Switzerland in Indiana have been arrested on numerous charges after police ended a six-month investigation into theft from the defunct Patriot Volunteer Fire Department.

The department had not been operational since 2017, but police were notified that a group of individuals were attempting to fraudulently gain control of the equipment and assets there.

The case includes the filing of fraudulent paperwork to take control of the fire department, with the five accused appointing themselves as president, fire chief, assistant chief and treasurer without notifying the public or previous volunteers at the station, or following existing by-laws.

The accused group also used the fraudulent paperwork to add their names to the bank account of the Patriot FD bank account, and to gain access to its building and equipment, but have since been arrested on charges of conspiracy to defraud a financial institution, conspiracy to commit theft, official misconduct and perjury.

A 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department who vanished in Mexico in August may have been shot during a botched kidnapping, according to authorities in Baja California. Francisco Aguilar, 48, disappeared on 20 August after travelling to his holiday home near Rosarito Beach, south of Tijuana, but in October two Mexican nationals, a 32-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man, were arrested for his suspected murder. Authorities believe the woman made a date with Aguilar in Rosarito, but when he showed up the man jumped him in an attempted kidnapping. “He somehow managed to get rid of his captors and tried to run, but as he ran, they shot and injured him, then put him in their van,” Attorney General Hiram Sanchez told local press. Police found some of Mr Aguilar’s belongings, including credit cards that had been used in three towns after his disappearance, in the van driven by the man and woman in custody.

DEFUNCT FIRE DEPARTMENT CONSPIRACY

ARRESTS OVER MISSING LA FIREFIGHTER

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EU

CALL FOR FIRE RESILIENCE IN GREEN DEAL MEPs have joined Fire Safety Europe in asking for fire resilience to be included in the EU’s Green Deal initiatives for buildings. Speaking at an event organised with the fire safety advocacy group, Slovenia’s Tanja Fajon and Finland’s Sirpa Pietikäinen emphasised how fire resilience and fire safety can improve buildings’ sustainability and contribute to the success of the EU Green Deal, calling upon EU and national policymakers to include it in their planning processes as

part of the initiative to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. MEP Fajon said: “The EU Green Deal offers a unique opportunity to make the EU building stock fit for the future by accounting for fire resilience. Building fires can have adverse effects on the environment, the society and the economy. It is important to limit these negative effects by ensuring buildings can resist to, adapt to, recover from fire and quickly get back in service.”

FIRECALL WINTER

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

UK

TANZANIA

Medical and safety technology company Dräger has launched a “Health for the Firefighter” campaign to support Fire and Rescue Services in driving the cultural changes required to protect firefighters’ health. A survey of UK firefighters found considerable concern over the impact of exposure to contaminants on long-term health, with some 84% of respondents saying they were concerned about the risk of cancer.

The survey also found that 68% of firefighters fear the impact of COVID-19 on their long-term health. The survey revealed the most important factor in combatting firefighter concerns over contaminants was the cleaning of masks, with 97% of respondents rating this as very or extremely important, closely followed by the cleaning of BA (95%) and the cleaning of PPE (94%).

The campaign aims to help communicate and provide training to UK firefighters on the importance of detailed hygiene processes, from the handling and storage of masks and breathing apparatus to the subsequent cleaning of kit after an incident has occurred. It also plans to offer bespoke workshops that allow firefighters to take control of preventing potentially contaminated kit from entering a station, through to proper washing and drying processes before returning it to be used again.

A fire lit to warm food for tourists is thought to have sparked a large blaze on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in October, according to local reports.

Firefighters, local residents and hundreds of students from the nearby College of African Wildlife Management worked to extinguish the fire that started on October 11 that had been fuelled by high winds and was difficult to bring under control due to the high altitude and difficult terrain. “It seems the fire that was lit to prepare food torched the dry vegetation in the area and spread quickly,” said Pascal Shelutete of the Tanzania National Parks Authority. The fire broke out at Whona, a pitstop for mountain climbers using two of the more popular routes on what is Africa’s highest peak.

FIREFIGHTER HEALTH CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

JAPAN

ANIMAL CROSSING TEACHES EARTHQUAKE SAFETY Tokyo Fire Department has taken advantage of the worldwide success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to teach schoolchildren about keeping safe during earthquakes.

In a series of tweets, the fire department posted videos of an avatar called Atsuo, dressed in the uniform of fire safety organisation BFC, demonstrating how to place furniture to protect people from injury caused by falling objects.

Around 1,500 earthquakes hit Japan every year, so earthquake safety is considered an important lesson for all schoolchildren. Advice includes finding a sturdy piece of furniture to hide under, away from windows.

Normally, these lessons are delivered by firefighters visiting schools, but this has not been possible during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Tokyo Fire Department created an imaginary island called “disaster prevention” where they release information about keeping the island and its residents safe.

In the videos, Atsuo makes his room safe from falling objects before shoving a wardrobe against a wall and applauding his actions.

FIRE ON KILIMANJARO

RUSSIA

MILITARY ARSENAL FIRE A fire engulfed a military arsenal in the Ryazan area of western Russia in October, triggering huge explosions that injured at least six people and prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents from nearby villages.Authorities say the fire was sparked by burning grass that quickly spread to the munitions stores, with local TV footage showing smoke rising high across the skies and powerful blasts shaking the area about 250 kilometres southeast of Moscow. The Russian Defence Ministry said that 189 troops backed by four heavy firefighting planes, three helicopters and multiple drones were deployed to help contain the blaze.

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BOOK REVIEW

BOOKSHELF

THIS SEASONS BEST READS

BEYOND THE TAPE

The Life and Many Deaths of a State Pathologist

A

nyone who watched news coverage in Ireland between 2004 and 2018 will be familiar with the sight of Dr Marie Cassidy, former state pathologist, on her way across a field or into a house in oversized forensics gear to examine a crime scene.

In this very interesting and entertaining memoir, Dr Cassidy takes us from her working-class background in Glasgow, through her professional career as a forensic pathologist in Scotland before moving to Dublin and eventually becoming Ireland’s head pathologist until she retired two years ago.

From her first case in 1997 when she arrived in Dublin to discuss a possible deputy state pathologist post but found herself immediately whisked away by Garda escort to a Grangegorman murder scene, through the many high-profile and notorious cases in recent Irish criminal history, this book serves almost as an anthology to Ireland’s most famous murder cases of the last 20 years.

Dr Cassidy takes us through the details of some harrowing cases that have rocked the country, and how the tell-tale signs of suspicion were noticed: The murders of schoolboy Robert Holohan in Cork in 2005, killed by a neighbour; Siobhan Kearney in 2006, murdered by her husband who tried to make the death look like suicide; Rachel O’Reilly in 2006, murdered by her husband who blamed the crime on burglars; and Tom O’Gorman in 2014, killed by his

Author:

DR MARIE CASSIDY

Publisher:

HACHETTE

Available:

EASONS.COM Price:

€15

tenant who stabbed him and ate some of his body parts.

Her insights into these cases and the ways in which vital evidence was secured at sometimes gruesome crime scenes is fascinating, but what really makes this memoir stand out – apart from the many short anecdotes of unfortunate deaths - is the way in which the author serves up a primer on the history, role and methods of death investigations. Indeed, it is the way in which Dr Cassidy outlines the challenges faced at some scenes that provide the more shocking details and

insights into the approach needed to gather evidence.

Despite, or perhaps because of the scenes being described, the author instils a good deal of black humour into this memoir, displaying her personality as a leading expert in pathology who still knows that what she saw on a daily basis was nowhere near a normal day’s work.

“This is your opportunity to duck under the police tape with me,” she tells us. “Walk carefully in my footprints and follow me into the scene, but don’t touch anything.”

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BOOK REVIEW

THE HILL

Author:

BERNARD BROGAN

Publisher:

REACH SPORT

Available:

EASONS.COM Price:

€14

With seven All-Ireland winning medals, five Championships and four All-Stars, Bernard Brogan’s career with Dublin GAA has been a huge success. Yet none of his achievements came easily, and in this engrossing autobiography co-penned by journalist Kieran Shannon, he outlines the many challenges he had to overcome to remain relevant in an all-conquering Dublin team in the last couple of years after a second cruciate knee injury. It was never going to be easy to live up to the achievements of his father and brothers, but his steely focus, and a refusal to give up, meant he ended his footballing career on top as part of the Five In A Row side, while juggling the demands of several successful business ventures and a young family. Apart from the fascinating details about the inner workings of the Dublin team, what stands out in this insightful read is Brogan’s determination to overcome intense frustration in a high-performance arena, to be part of something bigger than the individual, to leave a mark as part of a team. Highly recommended.

CHAMPAGNE FOOTBALL

John Delaney and the Betrayal of Irish Football

Authors:

THE SEARCHER

MARK TIGHE & PAUL ROWAN

Author:

Publisher:

Publisher:

Available:

Available:

Price:

Price:

VIKING

EASONS.COM €30

With an author interview airing on Virgin Media in October, now is the time to dive into this thoroughly well-researched and excellently written exploration of the 15 years in which John Delaney was head of the FAI. After years in which everybody just shook their heads at the stories of ineptitude and money wasting, Sunday Times journalists Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan finally published a series of revelations about Delaney’s lavish lifestyle and income while the financial situation of the FAI got worse and worse. The details included here – especially those of his lavish 50th birthday party financed by the FAI - will provoke laughter at such frivolity and excess, but the lingering feeling is that of anger, especially when the Irish taxpayer has been expected to chip in to help rebuild the organisation’s finances.

TANA FRENCH VIKING

EASONS.COM €15

The award-winning, hugely successful Tana French returns with this gripping thriller about a recently divorced retired Chicago cop who wants nothing more than to settle down in a quiet Irish village and live in peace. Needless to say, Cal Hooper’s plans almost immediately go awry when a local boy knocks on his door asking for help finding his missing brother.

The author is a master at constructing stories about hidden motives and secrets, and doesn’t disappoint with this new character who tries to get to the centre of a mystery while remaining very much on the outside of a seemingly idyllic community.

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TECHNOLOGY

TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS

THE LATEST INNOVATIONS FOR THE WORLD’S EMERGENCY SERVICES.

SMART AMBULANCE

Thailand has introduced a new 5G-connected smart ambulance. In partnership with Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital in Bangkok, communications company Thai True Corporation has developed new features for its fleet to help improve diagnostic and treatment procedures, as well as the communication between paramedics and doctors at the hospital. The vehicle, known as the “new ER model” can provide high-resolution large data such as CT scans, x-rays and ultrasound images that can be sent

over a “smart intelligence network”, as well as live streamed footage from internal CCTV cameras.

As part of the new model, paramedics can wear AR glasses that also send images to the hospital in real time so that doctors can monitor patients’ symptoms.

The ambulance also has an enhanced smart ventilation system that pushes air out of the vehicle and reduces the risk of infection, which is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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TECHNOLOGY

GREEN LIGHT Traffic lights and intersections in the German city of Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart have been equipped with technology to enable fire engines and rescue service teams to get to emergencies faster. In an initiative led by traffic technology group SWARCO, each light and junction has been fitted with Cohda Wireless MK5 Roadside Units that correspond with the equivalent units on board rescue vehicles to grant them green-light passage en route to emergencies. The system works by sending messages relaying position and speed, several times per second, from emergency vehicles to a traffic light controller, where these signals are processed and compared with scenarios stored in the programming. If the system detects an approaching emergency vehicle, the traffic light controller automatically prioritises that vehicle until it has gone through the lights or intersection. Cohda Wireless’s technology has been applied in other similar ways to make roads safer. In Estonia and Finland, its V2X hardware and software features in a smart pedestrian crosswalk solution that alerts pedestrians and other road-users to danger, while vehicle positioning technology was successfully trialled in the Bjørnegård tunnel in the municipality of Bærum in Norway in an effort to improve vehicle safety in this tunnel and others like it around the world.

EMS APP Montana-based medical tech company Pulsara has developed an app that provides a shared platform for EMS, ambulance and emergency management, allowing paramedics to alert an emergency department of a patient’s status, underlying conditions and initial first-responder treatments, as well as their estimated arrival time at the hospital. The app calculates the ETA based on GPS but also allows users to share important details such as ECGs or images from the scene.

It also stores all information shared across the platform so that emergency personnel can review each step of the patient’s treatment to identify areas that need improvement.

WILDFIRE SATELLITE SIGNALS Munich-based start-up company OroraTech has developed an early wildfire detection and monitoring service designed to notify fire departments of fire hotspots early enough to help them execute effective fire management strategies.

The company that originated at the Technical University of Munich is developing a constellation of about 100 nanosatellites, or CubeSats, that will greatly improve global coverage from above, overpassing an area every 30 minutes and sending data back to Earth faster than satellites already in orbit.

Each nanosatellite will be around the size of a shoe box but will contain all of the processing technology needed to observe potential wildfire activity through high-resolution

thermal imagery capture, and send the information back to the relevant authorities and fire departments.

The constellation will be built over the next few years with the first launch expected in late-2021, with the aim being that firefighters can use the wildfire detection and monitoring service to see fires on a global scale or customised area of interest, including different options of map layers such as topography, vegetation, fire danger index and weather to help make it easier to identify and analyse fire events.

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