Do i have to pay 850 euro of Fire Brigade service which i didnt call

Tlevinxs

Hi everyone,

I had my car crashed about 3 weeks ago, got a skid on the road and crashed my car into a ditch, no one else was involved in accident just me.
When i crashed, someone has stopped and helped me to get out of the car,i was ok and i didnt need medical help. I called recovery to take my car of the road. When woman left the scene, after 5 min Gaurds and Fire Brigade came. I gave details to Gardai and the fire brigade 2 cars, were just standing talking and watching how my car was towed on a recovery truck.

After 3 weeks I get an invoice for fire service charge of 850 euro.

I dind make a call to fire brigade, it was maybe that woman who helped me or just passing cars.

What you thinks lads, do i have to pay 850 euro for a service which 1) i dind call 2) which didnt do anything, just cleaned the road from glass.
thanks

Numb.Muzik

850 holy **** ! i think il take a leaf out of Eminem's book and just watch her burn !

Tlevinxs

Numb.Muzik wrote: »

850 holy **** ! i think il take a leaf out of Eminem's book and just watch her burn !

Hahaa))) anyway what you think who is right in this situation?

Terrontress

Tlevinxs wrote: »

Hahaa))) anyway what you think who is right in this situation?

What is "right" is not necessarily what will happen!

dr ro

I think I heard recently that whoever makes the call gets the bill. Doesn't really make sense though as quite often the one who needs fire service can't call themselves. call your local fire station and talk to the officer. 850 is a lot of money.

tomto

If u didnt make the call , you wont have to pay but whoever did may well end up having to. They may try to collect as they are desperate for money at the minute.Dont let it linger, let them know at an early stage that you are not paying. Thats what i done in a similar situation last year and they cancelled the bill.

civdef

The person who calls doesn't get the bill, it's the beneficial recipient of the service.
The myth that the caller gets billed is a dangerous one.

Car insurance covers fire brigade charges - typically up to around €2000.

Plazaman

Two cars crashed directly outside my house last year. I called an ambualnce as one girl knew she had dislocated her shoulder. Whilst on the emergency line, the operator asks do I need the Fire Brigade. I said I don't think so as there were no fires and myself and another neighbour disconnected car batteries. He asked if the road was blocked or partially blocked (which it was) I said yes. 10 mins later two fire brigades and a jeep!

I was making discreet enquiries off a council employee who says its the recipients rather than the caller who pay otherwise no one ring if there was an emergency for fear of bills. Some Councils use discretion for bills so it's the Council you should contact not the Fire Brigade.

Ironbar

Isn't that a bit of a joke ? So you could ring the fire brigade and send them to someone you hate maybe 4 times a month and every time they would have to pay. To me it seems a bit of a money spinner for the local fire brigade when they have nothing to do......:rolleyes:

Tlevinxs

tomto wrote: »

If u didnt make the call , you wont have to pay but whoever did may well end up having to. They may try to collect as they are desperate for money at the minute.Dont let it linger, let them know at an early stage that you are not paying. Thats what i done in a similar situation last year and they cancelled the bill.

Im going to write a letter to county council, will see what they say. And by the way, im student, i dnt get social welfare, im no working, i cant even afford to buy a car for meself after crash, and i cant claim from insurance aswell(third party)

petergfiffin

I don't have a clue about how this all operates but wouldn't it make more sense for the emergency controller to make the decision as to what resources should be sent based on the information? I actually think it's disgraceful that anybody should be charged for calling out the ES (apart from hoax callers who should be locked up), where the hell are our taxes going???

It's only a matter of time before the first question people ask themselves is "can I afford to ring them?" I know people might say "well you've called them out when they weren't needed" but isn't it better to err on the side of caution?

My advice to the OP is that elections are coming up so I'd be getting on to my local TD

PeakOutput

Tlevinxs wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I had my car crashed about 3 weeks ago, got a skid on the road and crashed my car into a ditch, no one else was involved in accident just me.
When i crashed, someone has stopped and helped me to get out of the car,i was ok and i didnt need medical help. I called recovery to take my car of the road. When woman left the scene, after 5 min Gaurds and Fire Brigade came. I gave details to Gardai and the fire brigade 2 cars, were just standing talking and watching how my car was towed on a recovery truck.

After 3 weeks I get an invoice for fire service charge of 850 euro.

I dind make a call to fire brigade, it was maybe that woman who helped me or just passing cars.

What you thinks lads, do i have to pay 850 euro for a service which 1) i dind call 2) which didnt do anything, just cleaned the road from glass.
thanks

you shouldnt have to pay it but legally you might have to
your insurance company should cover it either way

Delancey

Do DFB charge for Dublin call outs or is this just an issue ' outside the pale ' ?

Paulzx

delancey42 wrote: »

Do DFB charge for Dublin call outs or is this just an issue ' outside the pale ' ?

Only callouts to commercial premises.

Triangla

I thought we paid taxes to pay for things like the fire brigade?

ivabiggon

we do...but we also pay road tax to have the pleasure of driving through pot holes??? and not been able to use them when they're iced over????

Paulzx

Triangla wrote: »

I thought we paid taxes to pay for things like the fire brigade?

Somebody forgot to tell the County Councils

Alphyra

If my house/car catches fire and I call the fire brigade,I'm going to get a bill for a few hundred euro for calling them out ??

msg11

Alphyra wrote: »

If my house/car catches fire and I call the fire brigade,I'm going to get a bill for a few hundred euro for calling them out ??

Seems that way, Can't see myself calling them any time soon if I am going to face a bill of 850€ .. Like holy ****, I really thought our tax covered this sort of stuff.

Alphyra

msg11 wrote: »

Seems that way, Can't see myself calling them any time soon if I am going to face a bill of 850€ .. Like holy ****, I really thought our tax covered this sort of stuff.

If that is true that we get handed a whopper of a bill for calling them out I certainly wont be making any calls either, let it burn ! .

sdanseo

I can understand fire brigade charges for something like a chimney fire which is totally preventable - but a car accident is just that, an accident, you can take every precaution and still have one.

Double, triple, quadruple taxation is so prevalent in this country it's sickening.

That's not even going into the debate that it DOES NOT COST €850 for 30mins of fire brigade work. The cost should be subtracted from the cost of them idling in the station, and therefore should reflect the following and ONLY the following:

Diesel from Fire station to scene and return
Any consumable equipment used, oil soakage, fuel, foam etc
Any additional fuel used by appliances from further afield while the local tender is dealing with the first incident.

i.e. for the callout above, maximum €100.

Firemen get paid the same no matter whether they're in station or at scene. Not reasonable to charge for something that is paid whether it's charged or not.

Emergency services should be FREE. Simples.

Paulzx

sdonn wrote: »

I can understand fire brigade charges for something like a chimney fire which is totally preventable - but a car accident is just that, an accident, you can take every precaution and still have one.

Double, triple, quadruple taxation is so prevalent in this country it's sickening.

That's not even going into the debate that it DOES NOT COST €850 for 30mins of fire brigade work. The cost should be subtracted from the cost of them idling in the station, and therefore should reflect the following and ONLY the following:

Diesel from Fire station to scene and return
Any consumable equipment used, oil soakage, fuel, foam etc
Any additional fuel used by appliances from further afield while the local tender is dealing with the first incident.

i.e. for the callout above, maximum €100.

Firemen get paid the same no matter whether they're in station or at scene. Not reasonable to charge for something that is paid whether it's charged or not.

Emergency services should be FREE. Simples.

Firstly, i am completely against Fire Brigade charges.


However there are huge inaccuracies in your post.

Most FF's in this country are retained. They are not in the station waiting for a call. They are in their normal place of work with a pager. They get paid when they are turned out. Your point only applies to fulltime ff's.

It is pure simplification to state that it only costs 100 euro to cover a 30 min call out. Covering diesel, consumnables is only the minor paart of the cost.

What about the fire appliance..cost about 300grand each
Wages of fulltime or retained
Cost of kitting out FF with ppe
Cost of building /running station
Cost of equipment on applaince
Cost of training.

You have over simplified. 850 eur`o doesn't even cover the costs.

I agree with you that emergency services should be free

sdanseo

Paulzx wrote: »

Firstly, i am completely against Fire Brigade charges.


However there are huge inaccuracies in your post.

Most FF's in this country are retained. They are not in the station waiting for a call. They are in their normal place of work with a pager. They get paid when they are turned out. Your point only applies to fulltime ff's.

It is pure simplification to state that it only costs 100 euro to cover a 30 min call out. Covering diesel, consumnables is only the minor paart of the cost.

What about the fire appliance..cost about 300grand each
Wages of fulltime or retained
Cost of kitting out FF with ppe
Cost of building /running station
Cost of equipment on applaince
Cost of training.

You have over simplified. 850 eur`o doesn't even cover the costs.

I agree with you that emergency services should be free

I know about all those but wasn't counting them as cost of providing the service - the appliance is there anyway. The initial cost is funded by the state - as it should be, if they make it back well and good but they souldn't need to.

Bottom line: Every emergency service should be completely free, unless you've called upon it deliberately without reason.

keith gallagher

if you didn't need the service and didn't call i wouldn't pay it. Why pay a charge for a service you didn't need or look for.

Tlevinxs

keith gallagher wrote: »

if you didn't need the service and didn't call i wouldn't pay it. Why pay a charge for a service you didn't need or look for.

Yea thats what im saying, im going to send a letter to county council, and tell them everything what happened and everything what i think about this :pac:

Paulzx

sdonn wrote: »

I know about all those but wasn't counting them as cost of providing the service - the appliance is there anyway. The initial cost is funded by the state - as it should be, if they make it back well and good but they souldn't need to.

Bottom line: Every emergency service should be completely free, unless you've called upon it deliberately without reason.

But you have to count them as part of the cost of providing the service.

"the appliance is there anyway" is not a valid point. It didn't just beam down from Mars. It had to be bought. Whatever budget it came from is irrelavent

Anyway, i don't disagree with you on immorality of charging for an emergency service. We pay enough tax as it is. Unfortunatley, councils have been burdened with being the statuatory providers of Fire Services and each one makes up their own rules to some extent.

The Dept of Environment is quite happy to abdicate responsibility

b318isp

Ironbar wrote: »

Isn't that a bit of a joke ? So you could ring the fire brigade and send them to someone you hate maybe 4 times a month and every time they would have to pay. To me it seems a bit of a money spinner for the local fire brigade when they have nothing to do......:rolleyes:

Are you serious?

The only question here is if it reasonable from the public to pay for the E.S., but to suggest that they want to swindle people out of money or have nothing better to do is an insult to them. The sight of an ambulance, fire brigade or a Garda when you really need one is often the greatest relief you will ever experience; cut them some slack.

civdef

The fire charges basically cover the cost of paying the fire crew, as as been pointed out already, outside the cities, the crew is part time.

After 10PM weekdays or at weekends, each firefighter is paid approx. EUR80 for the first hour, EUR40 per hour after that. Daytime during the week is half that.

So a night-time call for an hour for a crew of 9 (normal crew level in a single pump retained station - can be more) costs EUR720, plus employer's PRSI, plus the other costs outlined above such as diesel etc. Most working RTAs would be at least 2 hours from alert to close down, i.e. EUR1080+.

The simple fact is that the current funding levels from local authorities and central government just wouldn't cover costs if there weren't charges.


Generally speaking, if a person genuinely can't pay the charges (as opposed to won't) they can be partially or fully waived by the local authority. This happens a lot.

angelfire9

Mmmm

I'm thinking of my circa €2k bill for the house fire 2 years ago
3 appliances in attendance is a bit of overkill no??:rolleyes:

Eru

angelfire9 wrote: »

Mmmm

I'm thinking of my circa €2k bill for the house fire 2 years ago
3 appliances in attendance is a bit of overkill no??:rolleyes:

I suppose that depends on how well the bucket chain was doing.

I cant believe people are actually trying to make out that the ff / ambo crews are attempting to turn a quick buck when in reality the part time guys are busting a hump purely to help YOU.

And hasnt the question been answered at least twice now? Insurance pays and try to remember, you could have had unknown injuries which could have killed you. 850 euro bill V being dead. Hmmmm, let me think about that one......

(I also agree that es should be free where possible)

angelfire9

I'm not suggesting that they turned out 3 appliances at my house to make extra money not at all
And I'm glad they turned out otherwise i'd be homeless :eek:

BUT
The bill was LOONEY for the amount of time they were actually in attendance
And fyi not all house insurance policies include fire brigade charges

Poly

€850! Jaysis, before you call the fire brigade ask for an estimate and call out charges.

So now the fire safety motto should be:

Get out
Stay out
Get the Fire Brigade and your wallet out

JCMM1

Triangla wrote: »

I thought we paid taxes to pay for things like the fire brigade?

No!!! we pay taxes to pay for the bailout of the screw ups of our politians and their cronies!!! We get the leftovers to run (and I use the word lightly!) the country!!!

Tlevinxs

Poly wrote: »

€850! Jaysis, before you call the fire brigade ask for an estimate and call out charges.

So now the fire safety motto should be:

Get out
Stay out
Get the Fire Brigade and your wallet out

True, true

civdef

And fyi not all house insurance policies include fire brigade charges

This might be something for the customer to check when they choose an insurance provider.

angelfire9

civdef wrote: »

This might be something for the customer to check when they choose an insurance provider.

Very true
Some policies cover up to €1500
Some cover nothing
With some its an additional fee
Worth making sure its included for sure as you don't want to be landed with a 2k bill on top of everything else!