Tag Archives: Adrian Kelly

The dangers of smoking in the home and the importance of having working smoke alarms installed will be the key messages promoted during National Fire Safety Week. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government will host the 15th annual all-island initiative from Monday next, in association with the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service and locally with Clare County Fire & Rescue Service. “Smoking at Home Can Cause Fatal Fires”, is the theme of this year’s event, which takes into account the significant number of domestic fires started each year as a result of burning cigarettes. “Unfortunately on average 36 people die in Ireland each year as a result of fire. House fires account for the vast majority of these fires,” said Adrian Kelly, Clare Chief Fire Officer. “The cause of these fires ranged from heavily sooted and blocked chimneys, smoking in the home, burning rubbish, electrical faults and most alarmingly from children playing with matches or candles. …

A new fire safety training programme specifically designed for home care workers could soon be rolled out countrywide, having been developed and piloted in Clare. Developed by Ennis-based Caring for Carers Ireland (CFCI), in partnership with Clare County Fire and Rescue Service, the programme is aimed at improving fire safety and home security for people who are living independently and in need of medium to high caring support. The first training session took place at Ennis Fire Station at the weekend, and involved the participation of community-based staff of Caring for Carers Ireland who are providing the organisation’s home care service to families in their own homes. Presenting certificates to 12 participants, Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, John spoke about the importance of organisations working in partnership and the added benefits of such working partnerships. He also praised the work undertaken by home care workers and how important it is to local communities. Adrian Kelly, chief fire officer, Clare County …

Clare County Fire and Rescue Services has yet again received national and international recognition for its efforts to protect the safety, health and welfare of its employees. The Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems certification was first published by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) in 2007 and sets out a preventative and proactive approach to identifying workplace hazards and assessing and controlling risk. Clare County Fire and Rescue Service was first awarded the OHSAS 18001:2007 – the only auditable international standard for health and safety – in 2014 and is one of only five fire authorities in the country that have attained the accreditation. Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, John Crowe has welcomed the announcement describing, the service’s commitment to maintaining health and safety standards to the highest level as “critically important for both Fire Service personnel and the general public whom they serve. Tom Coughlan, chief executive of Clare County Council added, “From the perspective of promoting …

It cost an estimated €11,500 for Clare Fire Service to attend 10 bonfire incidents over Hallowe’en. Neverthless, the chief fire officer for Clare, Adrian Kelly said compliance across the county was “generally excellent”. The fire service was called to the 10 incidents between Thursday and Saturday last. Mr Kelly has expressed his gratitude to people for heeding the fire service’s appeal not to use the Halloween period to illegally dispose of waste material on bonfires. “Halloween is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for the Fire Service and responding to bonfire call outs creates a strain on existing resources. Most of the bonfires we attended over the weekend were constructed close to houses and other property, which consequently presented risks to personal safety and property.”

With the sudden onset of cold weather, Clare’s chief fire officer, Adrian Kelly has called on people to ensure their smoke alarms are in good working order. Speaking at the launch of National Fire Safety Week 2014, Mr Kelly issued a timely reminder that the risk of fire breaking out in the home significantly increases during winter. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is hosting the 13th annual all-island initiative through to next Monday, in association with the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service and locally with Clare County Fire & Rescue Service. Mr Kelly said that unclean chimney flues and unguarded open fires are amongst the most common causes of domestic fires in Clare each winter. He noted that the theme of this year’s National Fire Safety Week campaign is “Let’s STOP fire together”. He explained,”The ‘STOP’ in the campaign slogan captures the key behaviours that will help people stop fires starting and therefore reducing the number of …

By Owen Ryan INDUSTRIAL action by Clare’s firemen is likely if the adoption of a new protocol for the service in Clare isn’t reversed, SIPTU is warning. It claims fighters’ lives will be put at risk by the adoption of Keeping Communities Safe, also claiming it jeopardises public safety. Clare County Council adopted Keeping Communities Safe at a meeting on Monday of last week, a move SIPTU condemned. “This decision means that elected members have, without any discussion of information, placed the lives of fire fighters at great risk and endangered the public. All Fire Stations in the county, along with families, are expressing extreme anger at how public representatives could have taken such a vote and indeed why.” The SIPTU statement outlined the fire fighters’ objections with what they say the plan will mean. “The extreme safety risk arises from the proposition to now send only four crews on a fire appliance where the national and international best practice …

By Owen Ryan THE lives of Clare’s fire fighters are being put at risk following a decision by the County Council made on Monday, SIPTU has claimed. On Monday at its meeting in Kilkee the Council adopted a new Fire and Emergencies Operations Plan in accordance with Section 26 of the Fire Services Act. It was passe without debate. In a statement on Wednesday night SIPTU blasted the move. “This decision means that elected members have, without any discussion of information, placed the lives of fire fighters at great risk and endangered the public. All Fire Stations in the county, along with families, are expressing extreme anger at how public representatives could have taken such a vote and indeed why.” The SIPTU statement outlined the fire fighters objections with what they say the plan will mean. “The extreme safety risk arises from the proposition to now send only four crews on a Fire appliance where the national and international best …

TENS of thousands of people in Clare were affected by hurricane-force winds which battered the county on Wednesday in the most recent storm to hit the country. More than 20,000 homes and businesses were without power on Wednesday evening with ESB Networks stating that this situation and that continues to be the case on this Thursday.  In fact some homes, farms and businesses may be without electricity and water for at least another day. Fallen trees blocked roads in many areas, buildings were damaged and a number of road accidents, including two incidents of trucks jack-knifing, took place as extremely high winds swept through the county from early afternoon. Shannon Airport was closed for much of the day due to high winds. A plane parked there was blown over on its side but was empty at the time and no one was injured in the incident. Met Eireann’s radar at Shannon Airport was also damaged by high winds. Clare County …