A man has told how he watched his house go up in fire as the local fire station remained empty because firemen were being interviewed for new posts.
John Fitzgerald, from Station Road in Falcarragh, was forced to flee his home after the fuse box caught fire.
John, aged 72, who lives with his dog Dottie, only lives 200 yard from the local fire station.
However, the three local fire officers could not respond to the call as four other officers were away doing interviews in Stranorlar – 52 kms away.
Under regulations, fire tenders must be manned by six personnel when answering an emergency call.
John revealed how he had to wait an agonising 30 minutes until the nearest fire tender arrived from Gaoth Dobhair.
He said “I was sitting having a cup of tea about 9.30am when I heard a noise and saw the fuse box was on fire. I called 999 immediately.
John Fitzgerald in his home in Falcarragh which was ravaged by fire. (North West Newspix)
“I was outside looking up at the local fire station but nobody seemed to be gathering to answer the call.
“My daughter called the emergency services again and it wasn’t until after 10am that the fire service from Gaoth Dobhair arrived.
“It was just lucky that a family were not trapped inside because they would have all been dead. We could have had a real tragedy.
“I am not blaming the fire service lads because they had tears in their eyes because they knew what could have happened. It’s a disgrace that there was no cover locally and that the fire service had to come from Gaoth Dobhair.”
John, a former chairman of Falcarragh GAA Club, added that his daughter had since contacted the fire service headquarters in Letterkenny and had been informed there would be no charge for the call-out.
Local county councillor John Sheamais O Fearraigh said the situation could have been much worse.
“We could so easily have been talking about the death of a family here. Luckily the man and his dog got out but the house is badly damaged.
“This man only lives 200 yards from the fire station in Falcarragh. But because there were only three personnel available, they could not attend the scene and the Gaoth Dobhair fire service had to attend.
“This is an absolute disgrace and I want to know why there was not cover provided when these officers had to travel 50 kms away to Stranorlar.
Falcarragh Fire Station which is less than 200 metres from the house which was on fire. (North West Newspix)
“My gripe is not with the fire officers who are only doing their job but it is with Donegal County Council and fire service management,” he said
A spokesman for Donegal County Council said a contingency plan had been put in place to deal with such emergencies in the Falcarragh area.
The spokesman said that Falcarragh Fire Station had been stood down but that firemen from the Gaoth Dobhair area had been put on standby.
A statement said “From time to time, and for operational reasons associated with various issues, including the availability of appropriate number of personnel to respond safely and appropriate oversight and incident control, fire brigades are stood down from responding to all or certain incidents.
“In all such cases, contingency plans are put in place in advance and this does provide for the response from adjacent brigades, as was the case for the recent incident where the Falcarragh brigade had been stood down for internal operational reasons and arrangements had been put in place for the Gweedore brigade to respond to any incident.”
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