A Brief History of the Irish Fire Service
In the late 17th Century, insurance companies began to set up their own fire fighting brigades in all the major towns and cities including Cork and Dublin, to help prevent huge losses as a result of fires. These brigades were responsible for the properties which were insured under the insurance company which they were working for. In 1800 Police and and parishes began to get their own engines to protect themselves and their towns.In 1854 their was an act past which for local authorities to provide firefighting equipment for towns which had more than 1500 occupants. Section 90 of the Public Health Acts in 1907 allowed local authorities enter into agreements for the common use of firefighting equipment. In 1909 the first motor pump arrived in Dublin.
With the threat of war, the Fire Brigades Act 1940 was passed. With this Local Authorities were now required to provide a service for the extinguishing of fires and the rescue of people.
The Irish Fire Service Today
The Irish Fire Service is made up of two types of service. These are full time and retained. The Full-time service works on a shift basis where as the retained is a part-time service where firefighters respond to emergency calls when their pagers are activated. Retained stations account for the majority of fire services in the country. Full-time personnel are paid a wage, while retained ( part-time ) personnel are paid what is called a retainer and an hourly rate for every emergency call they respond too.Whilst the training each service undergoes, is quite similiar, the real training for retained personnel is on the job.
The Structure of the Irish Fire Service
