Following a Waterford County Council-approved audit of the staffing levels of the County Fire Stations, an additional fire-fighter has been recruited, with another position soon to be advertised.
This audit was carried out by the Department of the Environment’s Oliver O’Loughlin following a request for an assessment by Councillor Brendan Coffey last April.
The audit also concluded that Cllr Coffey’s local fire station in Portlaw should increase its staff from six to eight.
Meanwhile, Cllr Coffey also recently asked the Council about the long-awaited proposed new fire station for Portlaw.
“It now seems that Portlaw has dropped one place to third priority,” he said. “I understand that Kilmacthomas, which has already acquired a site, has moved up to first.
“In light of this, I’ve asked the Council to ensure that they push the Department of Environment to achieve economies of scale by requesting that all four are approved and tendered for together. This would obviously also have positive impacts for local builders and their workers.”
