Mayo firefighters protest outside council offices
FIREFIGHTERS staged a protest outside the offices of Mayo County Council yesterday.
Thursday also saw the start of half the county's fire stations closing on a rotational basis as industrial action for fair pay and better working conditions by retained firefighters escalates across the country.
Six of the county's 12 stations will be closed every day indefinitely. This means that although there will be a response to emergencies, it could be delayed in the caller's area.
In Castlebar, members protested outside the headquarters of Mayo County Council, their employer, in addition to the various station protests.
The firefighters are receiving huge support from the public in their quest for proper wages and better working conditions to allow them have a proper work-life balance.
One member of the fire service in Swinford station summed up the situation in a social media post: 'We had planned to keep all 12 Mayo fire stations open during this industrial action, however they (management) have made it impossible for us to do this and we now have no choice but to escalate our industrial action.
'If you ring 999/112 and look for us, the next nearest fire brigade will respond to it, which will result in delays getting to the call. This is something none of us want to have to do.
'Firefighters in Swinford and all Mayo County Fire Service are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
'Once the beeper goes off, no matter what we are doing, relaxing, with family, getting dinner, we drop it all and run to go to your emergency. We endeavour to have the fire truck on the road going to your aid, answering your call of distress in under five minutes.
'As firefighters, we and all our families sacrifice so much daily and the only ones that understand are us and our families.
'We have no time off, and when we can get it, it’s limited. We don’t deserve that treatment, we just want better work life balance so we can continue to do this job without sacrificing our families.
'We can't leave Swinford or the station won't have any cover and you won't have any help when you may need it.
'The pager is on us 24 hours of the day, beside us while we sleep, and when it goes off it not only affects us but everyone in the house, be that waking sleeping children, dogs barking and partners awake, so not only is our night ruined but so is theirs.
'We want to be able to have time off. We want to be able to spend time with our families and not always have to leave them disappointed because we cannot do the things that every other family gets to do.
'We deserve better working conditions.
'We deserve better pay for the dedication we provide - being on call for less than a €1 an hour makes it impossible to recruit and retain fire fighters so our stations are constantly understaffed, putting our communities at risk (this is not a concern for the politicians in Dublin because their communities enjoy a full time fire service but we feel our communities not only deserve them too but need it)
'So when you pass any Mayo Fire Station today or whenever, make sure to give us a beep and support us in our fight to secure our future.'