Fire brigade personnel in Ennis have refused to operate a new €600,000 piece of essential fire-fighting equipment in an ongoing row with Clare County Council over its continued refusal to pay benchmarking to staff.
Firefighters at the station have refused to participate in a training course which they are required to attend before they can operate the new vehicle. As a result, the new custom-built Bronto Hydraulic Platform now sits idle in a shed at the council's machinery yard at the rear of Ennis fire station.
"We will not set foot inside the new appliance until we have received our benchmarking. It has gone on for too long now and every one of us is sick of it. Every other employee in the county council has received theirs so why should we be any different?" said one firefighter.
It has also emerged that the fire service's existing hydraulic platform is not capable of extending to the top floors or roofs of some of Ennis's tallest buildings. The new custom-built HP or cherry picker, which arrived in Ennis last month, has more than twice the reach of the existing appliance. It will give fire crews access to the uppermost levels of several buildings, on Mill Road in particular.
"As it stands, if there was a major blaze in one of those apartment buildings we would have no way of evacuating people from the top floor unless they could get down a level or two first," said the firefighter.
Last May, firefighters in Ennis walked off the job after a long-running row with fire service management over benchmarking and crewing levels. As a result of that unofficial action, Ennis and its catchment area of 38,000 people were left without emergency cover for almost two hours. The nearest stations, in Shannon or Ennistymon, are as much as half an hour away.
Ironically, of the seven fire stations in Clare, Ennis is the only one to have reached agreement with council management on benchmarking. "We shouldn't have to put our heads on the block to get our benchmarking, we are entitled to it," said another firefighter.
Fire personnel across the county have not ruled out industrial action.
Clare County Council has said it "has not been formally notified of firefighters' refusal to operate any equipment".