‘Where would we go?’ - Carlow councillors have not held fire drill in nearly 20 years

Carlow councillors have not conducted a fire drill in nearly 20 years, a council meeting has heard.

Labour councillor Willie Quinn made the claim at the January plenary meeting of Carlow County Council.

Cllr Quinn said: “I’m 19 years on this council and some of my colleagues are here longer than me.

“Not once in those 19 years have we had a fire drill as regards this chamber. We’re [at] the highest point in the building.

“If there was a fire tomorrow in the building, does anyone know where to go? Where would we go?

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“We all access [the chamber] by card. If the electricity went off, would we be able to get in or out? Where do you go? I mean it’s a very important point.”

In response to Cllr Quinn, Coilín O’Reilly, Chief Executive of Carlow County Council, said that there are regular fire safety drills conducted at the council buildings, just not during council meetings.

He stated: “As important as you all are, we have regular fire safety drills within this building for the staff as well.

“The doors are all what’s called ‘fail-to-safe’. So if a fire alarm goes off, the doors all open, they're not locked and all the mag-locks disconnect. The fire exit is straight at the bottom of the stairs.”

Cllr Quinn also raised a point around the importance of having a ladder in a two-storey house in case of a fire.

He said he spent Christmas at his daughter’s house in Dublin and asked her if she had a ladder upstairs in case of an emergency.

He added that when a fire occurs, people can sometimes end up jumping to their death if they don’t have a ladder upstairs in their house.

Cllr Quinn asked whether provisions could be made for ladders to be included in social houses in Carlow.

He commented: “The social housing units in Carlow County Council are two-storeys. Is there any clause either in the planning [ord] with regards a contractor?

“Is there anything that the council can do to make sure that a ladder [is there] that you can fold up, that can be left in a bedroom.

“It might only cost 250 or 300 quid, but it could save a person’s life because in the case of a fire, the fire usually starts downstairs either in the kitchen or in the sitting room.”

Cllr Quinn noted the number of arson attacks that have taken place recently and called for something be done with regards planning regulations.

He concluded his point by asking if the council’s fire officer could be invited to the February plenary meeting.

In response to Cllr Quinn, Mr O’Reilly said that the key in any house is to have a working fire alarm.

“The most important thing you can have in any building or house is a fire alarm because that detects the smoke and allows you to get out quickly. That’s the key.

“All our houses are built in line with building regulations as outlined by the Government, by the Department. There is no requirement to have a ladder in a two-storey house.”

He also outlined his own experience of having a fire safety exit plan as a child, something which he has now passed on to his own children.

He continued by ruling out Cllr Quinn’s idea of mandating ladders in council houses.

“I don’t think we’ll ever see the day where there’ll be a requirement for a ladder in a house but I do think that those things such as having fire alarms [and] your own fire exit plan, [are important].

“The stats on fatal fires [show that] alcohol, sleeping tablets, things like that come in when people are asleep at night during fatal fires. They don’t wake up and that’s the reality of that.”

Mr O’Reilly concluded by saying a fire drill could take place at the council’s February plenary meeting.