Fire Services

Sligo County Council is statutorily designated as the Fire Authority for the County of Sligo under Section 9 of the Fire Services Acts 1981-2003

Sligo Fire Service has four broad areas of activity that are mutually supportive in the delivery of an integrated service to the public:

 Fire/Emergency Operations  Fire Prevention and Community Fire Safety  Major Emergency Planning  Regional Training Centre

Fire/Emergency Operations

Sligo Fire Service delivers operational emergency fire and rescue services across 4 Fire Brigade Units located in Sligo, Ballymote, Tubbercurry, and Enniscrone.

2020 has been a difficult and unusual time for all. Despite a COVID-19 pandemic and national lock down as Emergency First responders Sligo Fire Service continued to provide a Fire Service to the county.

Sligo Fire Service undertook many operational changes to ensure the provision of a Fire Service in a safe manner for all Fire Service Personnel and the public. Some of the changes include Crews re-structured to minimise contacts, additional control measures for all activities including extra PPE and revised Operation Procedures for all activities.

In 2020, Sligo Fire Service attended a total of 458 emergency incidents compared with 448 in 2019, 470 in 2018 and 448 in 2017. 2020 seen an increase in the number of environmental effect incidents with a high volume of Gorse/Forest Fire and Flooding events. The number of these incident types has seen an increase of 45% compared to 2019.

June 2020 was an exceptionally busy period for Sligo Fire Service Operations with four Level 3 (highest level of operational resources) incidents within an 8-day period, which included 3 No. large forest fire incidents and 1 No. large commercial premises structural fire which involved a 24,000sq ft industrial unit fully involved fire. These incidents were protracted events with the full resources of Sligo Fire Service in committed, assisted at times by our neighbouring Brigades.

Sligo Fire Services battle large blaze at recycling depot in town in June 2020

Sligo Fire Service initiated a recruitment campaign for retained Fire-fighters in 2020 for Ballymote, Tubbercurry and Enniscrone Fire Stations for at least 6 No. new recruits. Recruit Fire-fighters are required to successfully complete a 3-week Firefighting Skills Course, 2 week Breathing Apparatus Course and 1 week Compartment Fire Behaviour Course plus extensive on station training.

The Firefighting Skills, Breathing Apparatus and Compartment Fire Behaviour courses are QQI accredited and on successful completion learners achieve Level 6 award under the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).

Fire Prevention and Community Fire Safety

Fire Safety and Prevention is an important function of Sligo Fire Service. The Fire Services Department process all applications for Fire Safety Certificates under building control legislation. In July 2020 Fire Safety Certificate applications moved to the BCMS online system, full roll out was completed with positive engagement with all relevant stakeholders.

Sligo Fire Service are also involved in planning referrals for commercial developments, inspecting and reporting on Circuit and District Court applications for Places of Public Entertainment, Registration of Fire Arms and Explosives Stores and Petroleum Regulations Licences.

Inspection of licensed premises and addressing premises Fire Safety concerns brought forward by members of the public, other sections of Sligo County Council and Fire Service Operations continued in 2020 even under COVID-19 conditions. Any buildings, which were non-compliant, were followed up on by issuing advice to the owners and applying the powers legislated under the Fire Services Act 1981 and 2003 as required. In 2020 Sligo Fire Service continued to engage with stakeholders, licensed premises and apartment management companies to promote the importance of fire safety in the built environment.

Sligo Fire Service engages with and promoted National Fire Safety Week, Carbon Monoxide Awareness, Schools Fire Safety programmes and fire safety talks and free smoke detectors to vulnerable groups. Sligo Fire Service actively promote Community Fire Safety throughout the year, focusing on vulnerable groups in the community and personnel from each fire station facilitated visits to their stations and requests from voluntary groups, such as the elderly and active retirement to provide fire safety talks

In light of COVID-19 restrictions Sligo Fire Service provided Fire Safety advice through various media outlets including extensive Fire Safety social media campaign.

Some of the images used during National Fire Safety Week 2020 on our social media

Major Emergency Planning

A Major Emergency is an event which, usually with little or no warning, causes or threatens injury or death, or serious disruption of essential services. It may also cause damage to property, the environment or infrastructure beyond the normal capabilities of the principal emergency services in the area in which the event occurs. It requires the use of additional procedures and the use of additional resources to ensure an efficient and effective response.

This current Framework for Major Emergency Management (MEM) was introduced in 2006. The purpose of this Framework is to put in place arrangements that will enable the principal emergency response agencies, the local authorities, An Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive to co-ordinate their efforts whenever a major emergency occurs, enhancing Ireland’s capability to meet the challenges posed by such an event.

Sligo Fire Service are the lead for Major Emergency planning for Sligo County Council and have continued to update the Sligo County Council Major Emergency Plan and sub-plans. Sligo Fire Service co-ordinated responses to incidents - though not major emergencies utilising the principles and systems of the MEM framework.

During the 2020 COVID-19 response, the North West Regional Major Emergency structures were used to ensure appropriate preparedness and co-ordination across the three Principle Response Agencies, which included the development of a Mass Fatalities Plan etc.

In 2020, Sligo Fire Service updated the Sligo County Council Major Emergency Plan and developed the Sligo County Council Flood Emergency Response Plan.

Regional Training Centre

Sligo Fire Station is the Fire Service Regional Training Centre for the North West, providing national, regional and centralised training. The centre has a breathing apparatus (BA) training building, providing realistic live fire environment to train fire-fighters to the highest and safest of standards in search and rescue techniques in complex burning buildings.

Once Phase 3 of Re-opening Plan was in place, Sligo Fire Service re-commenced training of personnel based on a training needs assessment.

Under the Governments Resilience and Recovery Plan for Living with COVID-19, local authorities and the Fire Service are recognised as being an essential service. With the implementation of appropriate control measures, our Training Centre continued to provide Breathing Apparatus (BA) Training and Compartment Fire Behaviour Training (CFBT) facilities and instructors to other Fire Authorities at Sligo and Tubbercurry Fire Stations.

Sligo Fire Service is the only Fire Service other than Dublin Fire Service in Ireland that is a recognised PHECC (PreHospital Emergency Care Council) Training Centre. We have qualified trainers providing courses for First Aid Responder, Cardiac First Responder and Emergency First Responder. In 2020 with extra control measure in place Sligo Fire Service provided training Cardiac First Responder and Emergency First Responder to other Fire Authorities.