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Fire Service and oil spillages

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  • 10-05-2014 6:55pm
    #1
    cc94
    Registered Users Posts: 9 ✭


    Hi there.
    just wondering as to if there are retained fire fighters out there or even whole time ones and if so do ye respond to oil spillages ? Lately in my local town there was a fairly big oil spillage on the main road out of the town and covering both sides of the road, I know of 3 people who rang the emergency services and were told that the county council will deal with this, after 35 minutes of waiting and still no one had come a car crashed into a ditch because of the spillage, we rang again and were told that the fire brigade will be with us shortly and within minutes they were on scene . I cant help but wonder why the fire brigade were not sent out in the first place ? if they had been that car would never have crashed, is it money saving or how does it work ? whenever I came across an oil spillage the fire brigade were the first to be called why has this changed ?


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    #2
    Paulzx
    Registered Users Posts: 1,967 ✭✭✭Paulzx


    E mail your local Chief Fire Officer. He sets the rules for what he will allow his Fire Brigade attend in his personal fiefdom.


    Or I can give you the short single word answer to your question...


    .....................Money............


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    #3
    apc
    Registered Users Posts: 352 ✭✭apc


    Why should the fire brigade be sent out , is it to clean the road? , thats the cleansing dept job as they are equipped to do it better than the fire brigade who can only hose the road down and only carry small amounts of detergent and absorbant and as you say it was a fairly big spill. Hosing down the road also causes an isue with run off which should be notified to the council and the EPA as it is toxic and harmful to flora and fauna.

    The cleansing dept handle big and small spills better as they can grit the road and remove same in a more environmentally friendly way.

    If its an issue of safety then surely the Gardai are the ones to call as they can close the road and put in place diversions and investigate the spill and hopefully prosecute the culprit.

    Also the roads dept of the local council can close roads and put diversions in place.

    I think its a dangerous waste of emergency resourses sending Fire services out on calls like these as it can affect there attendence at calls for which they are more suited


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    #4
    punisher5112
    Registered Users Posts: 24,647 ✭✭✭✭punisher5112


    apc wrote: »
    Why should the fire brigade be sent out


    To save lives I would hazard a guess as 1 main reason as I have hit diesel on motorbike on a number of occasions and lucky to be here.


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    #5
    dreamers75
    Registered Users Posts: 20,558 ✭✭✭✭dreamers75


    Do fire brigades have spill kits to clean up?

    I would assume whatever company spilled the oil should be responsible for cleaning it as they are moving it.


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    #6
    apc
    Registered Users Posts: 352 ✭✭apc


    Why should the fire brigade be sent out , is it to clean the road? , thats the cleansing dept job as they are equipped to do it better than the fire brigade who can only hose the road down and only carry small amounts of detergent and absorbant and as you say it was a fairly big spill. Hosing down the road also causes an isue with run off which should be notified to the council and the EPA as it is toxic and harmful to flora and fauna.

    The cleansing dept handle big and small spills better as they can grit the road and remove same in a more environmentally friendly way.

    If its an issue of safety then surely the Gardai are the ones to call as they can close the road and put in place diversions and investigate the spill and hopefully prosecute the culprit.

    Also the roads dept of the local council can close roads and put diversions in place.

    I think its a dangerous waste of emergency resourses sending Fire services out on calls like these as it can affect there attendence at calls for which they are more suited


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    #7
    cc94
    Registered Users Posts: 9 ✭cc94


    You could argue both ways in why the fire brigade should or should not be called, as far as I know the fire brigade have equipment to deal with incidents like this. just the reason I ask is because a few years back I called the fire brigade for an oil spillage and there was no word of other authorities and the fire brigade were there in minutes, just surprised to hear that the county council do it now. In my view emergency services are alerted when lives are at risk and certainly I think there are lives at risk when oil spillages occur on roads for example what punisher said.


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    #8
    donkey balls
    Registered Users Posts: 3,433 ✭✭✭donkey balls


    Under the ADR(Hazchem regs) all vehicles carrying bulk liquids must have spill kits on board these are normally a plastic shovel along with material that can absorb the spillage plus a barrier to stop the liquid from running into the water mains/river.
    Also mentioned in the regs is the authorities to contact in the event of a spillage which happens to be the Gardai & fire services.


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    #9
    Mycroft H
    Registered Users Posts: 9,316 ✭✭✭Mycroft H


    donkey balls wrote: »
    Under the ADR(Hazchem regs) all vehicles carrying bulk liquids must have spill kits on board these are normally a plastic shovel along with material that can absorb the spillage plus a barrier to stop the liquid from running into the water mains/river.
    Also mentioned in the regs is the authorities to contact in the event of a spillage which happens to be the Gardai & fire services.

    Have you ever seen these spill kits? They're pathethic and if you've a big spill of kero/diesel you may aswell forget cleaning the road service.


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    #10
    donkey balls
    Registered Users Posts: 3,433 ✭✭✭donkey balls


    Mycroft H wrote: »
    Have you ever seen these spill kits? They're pathethic and if you've a big spill of kero/diesel you may aswell forget cleaning the road service.

    I have seen loads of them as I use to be a tanker driver the ones we used are very good they can absorb a good amount of liquid,These spill kits can contain a small spillage but if it was a full tanker load you would need a tanker vac that can suction up the spillage.


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