A Longford Councillor is calling for employers across the Shannonside region to hire retained firefighters or support those already on staff.
Councillor Seamus Butler believes more needs to be done to support these workers in order to make the role more attractive.
Retained firefighters are on-call members who go about their daily lives like anyone else in the community, but who respond to emergencies at a moments notice.
Speaking at the January meeting of Longford County Council, the Fianna Fail councillor acknowledged that while having a member of staff that has to leave work when an alert is received can be an inconvenience, these fire fighters may be attending a life or death situation.
Councillor Butler, who himself has a firefighter on staff, is urging local companies and business owners to encourage and support any member of staff interested in becoming a retained firefighter.
Speaking to Shannonside FM he says these men and women are saving lives on a daily basis:
''These people saves people's lives, they work in extraordinary circumstances and they put their lives on the line for us in the community. I would say that employers who have people who want to apply to become a retained firefighters or are retained firefighters, it might be inconvenient when they are called out but they are going out to save lives and I think under corporate governance all companies should consider employing a retained firefighter.''
