By Dionne Meehan
FIRE CREWS responding to a major blaze in Castlefinn at the weekend had to travel two miles to access a working fire hydrant, it has been claimed.
It’s understood firefighters attending the fire at Tinney’s Bar on Sunday struggled to access water from the nearest hydrant due to low pressure. As a result firemen were left with no other choice but to travel almost two miles to Liscooley to access water in a bid to extinguish the flames.
Speaking to the Donegal News following Sunday’s events, Kieran Brennan of Tinney’s Bar spoke of his heartbreak as he watched the business he built up, burn down.
“It wasn’t great standing watching it burn down – everything you built up just burning in-front of you,” he said.
Kieran isn’t the only person that has been left to pick up the pieces after incidents where faulty hydrants caused issues for the emergency services.
In the past four months, there have been at least two other incidents where fire hydrants haven’t been fit for purpose.
In December Cllr Gerry McMonagle called on Letterkenny Fire Service to ensure fire hydrants were “fit for purpose” after the response to a blaze in Meadowbank caused concern.
On that occasion the fire service was faced with delays when crews encountered a blocked hydrant on arrival to the scene.
Similarly, in January, firefighters were faced with delays as they struggled to locate a fire hydrant close to a home that was struck by lightning in Newtowncunningham.
After that incident, calls were made for a dedicated service to be employed to check fire hydrants.
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