Limerick City and County Council has announced that Abbeyfeale Fire Station has reopened since Monday.
The station was closed on Friday 26th September after a number of fire-fighters were unable to report to duty due to illness. As health and safety requirements dictate that a minimum comple-ment must be present to maintain operations at a fire station, the local authority was forced to temporarily close the station.
Michael Ryan, Chief Fire Officer confirmed, how-ever, that retained fire-fighters from elsewhere throughout Limerick operated on a shift basis at Abbeyfeale Fire Station this week, allowing normal service to resume.
Mr. Ryan added: “Over the past week, all incidents normally responded to by the Abbeyfeale Fire Bri-gade have been dealt with by brigades in Listowel, Newcastle West and Castleisland Fire Stations. The Fire Service would like to thank these brigades for their assis-tance, and indeed the retained fire-fighters whose cooperation has allowed us to reopen Abbeyfeale Fire Station from Monday morning.”
Josephine Cotter Coughlan, Director for Emergency Services commented: “The decision to close the station was in accordance with health and safety require-ments, but we were satisfied that sufficient and appropriate fire cover was provided by the three neighbouring stations in Listowel, Newcastle West and Castleisland during the closure period. Thankfully, there were no call-outs during this period. We would like to thank the public for their patience and understanding during the past week.”