COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, October 10, 2022
QUESTION NO. 29
QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons
To ask the chief executive for an report into the height of the ladder in Belgard fire station , can this ladder reach the height of all apartment blocks in SDCC?
REPLY:
Dublin Fire Brigade train all operational fire fighters and officers to deal with a full range of incidents including fires in tall and complex buildings and invest in a broad range of specialised equipment to provide for the response in buildings. Dublin Fire Brigades compliment of turntable ladders have increased over the last 12 months. The new 42m ladder will go into service shortly. Discussions with the Trade Unions continue with respect to the deployment of a revised specials agreement, which includes turntable ladders and these talks are at an advanced stage.
Dublin Fire Brigade receive fire safety certificate applications for all types of buildings including residential accommodation. The applicant must demonstrate compliance with Building Regulations 1997-2019, and their decisions will be to grant, either grant with conditions or refuse these proposals.
Guidance on compliance with Building Regulations is provided by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in the form of Technical Guidance Document B and other guidance. Multi-unit developments such as apartment buildings must be fitted with fire safety features to provide for means of escape, control of the internal and external spread of fire and for firefighting facilities to achieve compliance with Building Regulations 1997-2019. It should also be noted that fires in high-rise buildings are principally designed to be fought from an internal protected stairwell as well as utilising external resources as required.
The Dublin Inter-County Sub-Committee on Fire and Emergency Management, which was established in April 2022 to consider strategic and policy matters in relation to Dublin regional fire and emergency management and is chaired by the Dublin Lord Mayor, is due to have its next meeting this month (October) after which it is anticipated that a report from that meeting will be brought to the Housing SPC in November. South Dublin is currently represented on this sub-committee by four Councillors, namely Councillor Lynn McCrave, Councillor Liam Sinclair, Councillor Liona O’Toole and Councillor Alan Edge.
The fire appliances in Tallaght Fire Station carry the same standard 10m and 13.5m ladders as all national fire appliances carry. These ladders allow firefighter access to at least the 4th floor of a building, suitable for all regular domestic housing stock. In addition 30m and 42m Turntable Ladder appliances are on the Pre-Determined Attendance for high-rise developments for all areas of the city. These appliances can be in attendance in the Tallaght area within the national guideline travel times for Special Aerial Appliances. Dublin Fire Brigade are currently reviewing their Aerial Appliance deployment model for the city, which may see these appliances being redeployed to other station areas in the future.