Poor fire safety conditions at Traveller sites across Waterford

Traveller families at a number of sites in Co Waterford would not be able to escape from their homes in the event of a fire, nor would rescue services be able to get to them, an unpublished report has found.

The Review of Fire Safety in Traveller Accommodation conducted by Waterford's chief fire officer and senior Waterford City and County Council staff at six Traveller sites, found escape routes blocked by walls, and barriers at site entrances too low to allow emergency services enter.

The report was drawn up last December following a direction from the Department of the Environment to local authorities, after the deaths of 10 people in a fire at a halting site in Dublin.

Concrete wall

When

The Irish Times

visited a site in

Kilbarry

, Co Waterford last November, some of the 12 families pointed out windows blocked by a 4m-high (13ft-high) concrete wall.

The report says: “The site boundary wall is in close proximity to some of these windows and does not make escape and rescue practicable.” The wall should be removed or alternative windows provided, it says.

Some of the sites had height-restriction barriers, “to prevent entry of unauthorised vehicles”. These could “critically delay” fire-fighters.

None of the sites had fire-fighting equipment or fire instruction notices.

A spokeswoman for the local authority said: “Waterford City and County Council is committed to addressing all of the fire safety issues identified in the review and is working with the residents.”