New figures reveal Castlerea fire station had the poorest record at responding to emergencies in Roscommon last year.
Details released to Shannonside FM show it had the longest average ‘turn-out’ time of any station in the county, while its longest response time in 2016 was three times as long as any other fire station’s.
The station is currently closed due to ongoing staffing issues.
A turn-out time is the duration taken from a fire-fighter’s pager alert to the time the fire engine is mobile, while a response time includes the travel time to the incident.
Of the six fire stations in Roscommon, last year Castlerea had the poorest average turn-out time, at 9.37 minutes, with the remaining stations ranging from 5.75 in Strokestown to 7.79 in Roscommon town, 6.26 in Ballaghaderreen, 6.79 in Boyle and 7.55 in Elphin.
Castlerea also had the longest response time recorded at an emergency last year, at 47.57 minutes, when a call for assistance was made.
This was more than three times as long as in any of the other five stations in the county in 2016 – the 14.30 minutes recorded by the Roscommon town crew.
The longest recorded time in Strokestown was 8.51 minutes, which was the quickest of any station in the county last year.
The average length of an emergency incident in Castlerea between 2014 and 2016 was also significantly longer than elsewhere.
Castlerea fire station spent an average of 181 minutes at an emergency incident, almost an hour longer than the average of the other five stations, 123 minutes.
And, at 179 minutes, the average length of time of a chimney fire in Castlerea was also much longer than the average across the other five stations, at 94 minutes.
John Keane, Roscommon’s chief fire officer, hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
