This article is from page 4 of the 2012-05-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
PEOPLE are becoming more fire and road safety conscious, with Clare Fire and Rescue Service call-outs dropping by one third last year.
According to the county’s fire chief, Adrian Kelly, people are becoming more safety aware, but false alarms continue to be an issue.
In 2010, the fire services responded to 1,355 calls, compared to 908 last year.
As many as 850 of the 2010 callouts were to fires, a number that almost halved to 461 in 2011.
Chief Kelly explained that gorse, bog and forestry fires had a huge affect on the 2010 figures, with approximately 260 such fires in total.
From January 1, 2010, to September 30, 2010, the fire service responded to 257 large outdoor fires. During the same period in 2011, that number had dropped to just 73.
A number of initiatives introduced by Clare County Council and the fire service have also played a part in the reduction in call-out numbers.
Among the schemes in place is a school programme where the fire service speaks with third-class students, a clean chimney campaign, and a smoke detector initiative.
The number of fires started for controlled burning that have gotten out of control has also reduced, with people ringing the service in advance to say they will be lighting fires.
“People are therefore more responsible as they have already informed the service who they are,” explained Mr Kelly.
The number of road traffic accidents the fire service was called to in 2011 reduced by 25 from the previous year. This number was down almost 100 from 2007.
“Part of the reason for this is the opening of the motorway, and there are less people on the road because there are less people working and due to the cost of fuel,” said the Clare fire chief.
Bogus calls continue to waste time and money for the fire service, however. Last year, there were 24 malicious false alarms at a cost of approximately € 1,100 per call-out.
Not only did this cost the fire service € 26,400, it also cost the service valuable time, according to Chief Kelly.
While the fire units are attending a bogus call, they could get a call to a genuine emergency.
“We could be losing valuable minutes on bogus calls,” he said.
A further 75 call-outs last year were good-intent false alarms.