People in Tipperary are being advised to continue to call 112 or 999 in the event of a fire despite industrial action by Retained Fire Service personnel.
If there is no resolution every second station in the county will be off the run, with members picketing their own station and county council offices from next week.
SIPTU says retained firefighters can’t be expected to always be available for as little as 8-thousand euro per year.
On-call fire fighters have commenced industrial action – if a resolution isn’t found half of the country’s fire crews will stop working next Tuesday followed by an all-out strike on the 20th of June.
The first stations to close locally on Tuesday 13th will be Nenagh, Templemore, Newport, Cashel, Cahir, and Carrick with the other 6 in the county picking up any calls.
They will continue to alternate in this manner until the 19th of June.
Tipperary County Council have engaged with SIPTU at local level to put in place robust contingency arrangements which will be kept under review throughout this dispute.
In a statement to Tipp FM Tipperary County Council says the union has confirmed that throughout the strike action it will comply with the provisions of the Code of Practice on emergency disputes, reflecting what the council describes as the professionalism and dedication of retained fire service personnel, to ensure that fire services are provided throughout this industrial action.
They will continue to respond to all emergency calls involving life-threatening situations.
The County Council is advising all households and businesses to ensure that they have working smoke alarms and should continue to call 112 or 999 in the case of an emergency.
