A dedicated and determined fire crew in County Laois have been working over the weekend to get their fire station back in order following the floods this week.
Mountmellick Fire Station suffered extensive damage because of the floods which affected the midland town which began on Wednesday. As fire fighters from the county’s fifth station (LS15) out of eight were dealing with extensive floods in Mountmellick and Portartlington, firefighters were told that their station on the Portlaoise road was under water.
Main Pic: (EmergencyTimes.ie) Inset: (Laois Fire & Rescue Service)
The flood waters were waste high inside the station, causing considerable damage to much of the crew’s equipment and facilities.
A skip sits outside the fire station as firefighters worked all day and late into the night clearing out and cleaning up the mess following the floods which also left hundreds of others and their homes damaged and destroyed.
All Photo: (Declan Keogh / EmergencyTimes.ie)
The appliance bay doesn’t appear to have had much equipment in it, however, the training room, drying room and BA room beyond the appliance bay suffered most of the flood damage.
EmergencyTimes.ie visited Mountmellick on Saturday and met with some of the fire crew. A member of the crew said “Although we lost a lot in the station, you have to think of all those poor unfortunates who have lost their homes and possessions. This is our station, but their home is their castle. This can be repaired and replaced quickly enough but other people may not be as fortunate.”
Mountmellick Fire Crew: Photo: (Laois Fire & Rescue Service)
Laois County Fire & Rescue Service has confirmed to Emergency Times that the fire service in Mountmellick has remained on-call, operational and available since the flooding and throughout, and while their station is being repaired the fire crew are being housed temporarily at the Laois Civil Defence Unit on the Bay Road until the fire station is fit for purpose again.
Fire Officers were busy on Saturday sourcing and replacing equipment and supplies for the station in order that the community and businesses of Mountmellick and its environs can return to having a fully functioning retained fire service once again.
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