‘Glaring inefficiency’ in Fire Service response to flooding – Hyland

Anton McNulty

A COUNTY Councillor has described the fire service’s response to potential flooding of property as ‘dysfunctional’ and called for a change in procedure in dealing with responses in the future.
Westport Independent councillor Christy Hyland claimed that the flash flooding of two weeks ago had highlighted the ‘glaring communication inefficiency’ regarding emergencies that are not fire related in the fire service.
During heavy rain on Friday, September 11, the fire service were called to homes and businesses concerned at rising water levels on the South Mall in Westport. Cllr Hyland claimed the fire service were at the scene at 7pm but had to wait over an hour before they got permission to carry out the pumping operation.
“When I arrived on the scene the Fire Department were already on the site. They responded excellently, they had their crew, they had their equipment, but they couldn’t take any action in alleviating the flood until they received sanction from the Fire Chief Officer.
 The Fire Chief Officer could not provide sanction until he himself received sanction from the executive of the Mayo County Council.
After one and a half hours of waiting on site they could still not pump water,” he said.
Cllr Hyland has called for procedural changes to be made claiming ‘unnecessary bureaucracy is stymieing the effectiveness of the emergency services’. “The Officer in charge should be able to make these decisions on the ground.
Be it a car crash where a victim needs to be cut out of a car, a storm where a tree needs to be removed from the road, or another flood where more than property is under threat,” he said.
Cllr Hyland has called for a written report from the Director of the Fire Service to be provided at a County Council meeting in the next two weeks.
Mayo Chief Fire Officer, Seamus Murphy confirmed to The Mayo News that there is a protocol in place which the fire service have to adhere to when they receive certain types of callouts.
In relation to Cllr Hyland’s claims he said a full report will be made at the next meeting of Mayo County Council.