This article is from page 2 of the 2005-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
ENNIS fire-fighters have been forced to call in Garda protection after being pelt- ed with missiles by children as young as te
Gardai are escorting fire crews, when responding to alarms in the Cloughleigh area of the town.
Last week, a fire-fighter was struck on the head by a missile during a response to a hoax call.
The incident was the latest in a series where fire-fighters were subjected to at- tack by a group of teenagers and children in Cloughleigh. Crews now don their helmets and visors to protect themselves when entering the area.
Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly con- firmed this week that Garda escorts were being requested to accompany fire units to Cloughleigh, where it was suspected
that the calls to the station might be hoax.
Mr Kelly said that a fire unit received a Garda escort to the Cloughleigh area last AYA”LerebaTehsre FWA
Mr Kelly said, “I can’t tolerate a situ- ation where the fire-fighters are the tar- gets for young people throwing objects at them.”
Mr Kelly confirmed that already this year, the fire service had received 21 ma- licious calls and 17 nuisance calls from the Cloughleigh area.
A fire-fighter said this week, “You name it, rocks, bricks and bottles have been thrown at us and we can’t risk go- ing into the area anymore without a Fer Menieesa mn 4 blot MA WLoM oon AVM toler Roms Ker] hoax call. There are kids as young as 10 and 11 throwing the stones.”
The fire-fighter added, “The problem has been there for a while, but has been
particularly bad over the past 12 months. We can’t risk any injury now, it has got KeXO mo) 6 (0) t
Supt John Kerin of Ennis Garda Sta- tion warned that gardai would be able to accompany fire units to Cloughleigh only in very exceptional circumstances.
“It wouldn’t be viable for Gardai to be on call to provide an escort every time a fire unit is called out to the area in ques- nCoyn a
OW Comp net-larosmmye: pepe) oyKeltrca slam Commo) ULor lic attention by Green party councillor, Brian Meaney at the Council’s Special Policy Committee (SPC) on the Envi- ronment last week.
‘A means has to be found locally to stamp out this behaviour. The imposition of a curfew must be investigated. I un- derstand that fire units stopped putting on their sirens going into the area, but the rock throwing continued,’ he said.