Hole In The Fire

Greystones Fire Station

tatement from Stephen McFadden, chairman of the National Retained Firefighters Assocation, issued on Friday, September 22nd 2023…

It has been two weeks now since firefighters in Greystones Fire Station called in sick due to a breakdown in relations with the station officer.

Almost 2 weeks where a town the size of Greystones – with one of the busiest retained stations in the state – has been without adequate fire cover.

Greystones is currently reliant on Bray and Wicklow town to provide cover and even that cover has been unsafely provided. There have been numerous health and safety breaches that our members have made us aware of and these breaches lie solely with senior management within the fire service in Wicklow.

Almost two weeks and no sign of a resolution. The provision of a fire service in Greystones is the responsibility of the Chief Fire Officer, Aidan Dempsey. He is also responsible for the wellbeing of crew and officers in Greystones.

I think the community of Greystones deserves to hear from him; that he is doing all he can to fix the problems that are causing the fire station to remain closed.

We are calling on Wiclow County Council and Chief fire officer Aidan Dempsey to resolve this situation as soon as possible out of respect to the crew and in the interest of public safety, and that of our members in both Bray and Wicklow town, who are already under resourced.

You can find out more about the Greystones Fire Station closure here, and more on the National Retained Firefighters Association here.