This article is from page 25 of the 2011-01-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 25 JPG
FROM ensuring medical assistance was provided to vulnerable patients to supplying homes around the county with water, it’s been a busy month for the volunteer members of Clare Civil Defence.
During December when extreme cold weather caused massive disruption to Clare’s road and water network, as many as 25 Civil Defence volounteers were on duty a day in Clare, in what has been described as a “massive volontary effort”.
“We’ve been out since December 17 and we’ve been out every day since”, explained Liam Griffin, Director of Clare Civil Defence.
He continued, “We’re kind of on standby, waiting for isolated calls. Basically what we have been doing, we’ve been transporting public health nurses around to their patients when the roads were in poor conditions with the ice. We have four wheel drive vehicles so we were doing that. As well as that we were also providing water to houses in our tankers and we were also manning standpipes on the Kilrush and Gort Road during the Christmas period, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day. Our people were working throughout the Christmas period and throughout the New Year”.
As freezing weather conditions gripped the county in December, Civil Defence tankers transported thousands of gallons of water to affected areas.
Mr Griffin said demand for the service was as great as it had been during the floods crisis in November 2009.
He said, “When the weather turned bad and the pipes started to freeze were supplying water by tanker or by manning standpipes. It was mostly in the mid-Clare area, from Ennis to Cratloe, up to Crusheen out to Clooney, that sort of area. We were every bit as busy as last year”.
Mr Griffin also hailed the dedication and commitment of volounteers who had given up their time during the Christmas period.
“Most of our volunteers would be young people that are in their 20s and it’s a great sign for the future insofar as these people were so willing to give up their time, particularly over the Christmas holiday period. They were out Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day, New Year’s Day”. he said.
Mr Griffin added, “That’s a massive volountary effort from these people and it should be very much appreciated. Many of the householders that were affected during the period expressed their gratitude to the people involved”.