Community meeting on fire station's future

A public meeting will be held at the Community Centre, Newport on this Sunday evening, April 26, at 6pm to discuss the threat of closure of the local fire station.

Tipperary County Council have announced that unless a current recruitment campaign to secure additional fire fighters within the Newport area is successful the closure of the fire station will have to be considered before the end of the year.

The council points out that the staffing requirement for the operation of the station is 12. Due to retirements and other reasons the current number of fire fighters attached to the station has fallen to four, which is not sufficient to continue the operation of the station within the regulations and safety standards that are necessary to comply with.

The service is vital to that area, with the number of callouts at up to 60 a year.