Almost one fifth of Dublin Fire Brigade frontline workers were unavailable for work over the New Year due to Covid-19 with "significant numbers" still affected, chief fire officer Dennis Keeley has said.
The fire service saw a "surge in numbers" of firefighter paramedics affected by Covid-19 between Christmas and New Year's Eve, he told a Dublin City Council meeting.
While the situation had since stabilised to a degree, staff absences remained at a level that would “impact on service delivery” he said.
“We were operating through the Christmas and New Year period where we began to see this surge in case numbers,” he said. “Our particular surge peaked on New Year’s Eve with just over 200 of our staff either directly impacted – positive, or close contact self-isolating. A number of 200 is approaching 20 per cent of our staff numbers, it is going to have an impact on service delivery.”
As a result “a number of appliances” provided by the fire and ambulance services could not be operated on New Year’s Eve, he said.
“We have seen a steady improvement of the situation in recent days and now we are at 107 staff directly impacted. Again not an inconsiderable number and a number that would impact on service delivery.”
There were a “range of mitigating measures in place to help us maintain our service delivery” he said. This included fast-tracking the qualification of new firefighters, who would be available this week, and the suspension of training courses of operational staff.
“Our principal aim is to ensure there is a fire appliance in every fire station in the city and county to ensure service delivery and continuity. Today we have two appliances off the run as a result of numbers which is unfortunate but is a much improvement on where we were.”
‘Extreme pressure’
The fire services had a derogation that allowed essential personnel to self-isolate for shorter periods, but he said the fire brigade had not yet had to bring this provision into force.
“We have been monitoring that. Obviously there’s a risk associated with activating that derogation, it’s a point of last resort. We haven’t been there, but I would say we came close to it on New Year’s Eve.”
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said on Sunday staff shortages in the fire service were putting the public and fire fighters at risk
“Dublin Fire Brigade’s staffing crisis continues to worsen. On December 31st 12 fire appliances were off the road because there was not enough personnel to staff them. Fire stations across Dublin were without fire engines, ambulances and rescue trucks,” he said.
"The staffing crisis is putting the service under extreme pressure. There are currently 965 fire fighters in Dublin Fire Brigade. Standards dictate that this number should be over 1,000. Dublin Fire Brigade now depends on overtime to keep the service functioning. This is putting the lives of fire fighters and the public they serve at risk," Mr Doolan said.
