Big benefits expected as GreenPlan to be rolled out across all Laois Fire Stations

Durrow Fire Station has been chosen to lead the roll out of  The GreenPlan for Laois Fire and Rescue Services countywide. 

The GreenPlan aims to bring about environmental improvements across Laois’s fire stations and in the communities they serve through behavioural change. 

Dublin Paramedic, Firefighter and Founder of The GreenPlan, Neil McCabe, signed a contract with Laois County Council at Durrow Fire Station on Wednesday morning. 

Durrow Fire Station has been the first of the county’s eight fire stations to adopt The GreenPlan which operates on a three phase framework system; bronze for analyse, silver for reduce and gold for produce.

“We could just put a few solar panels on the roof and stick up a wind turbine and pretend we are doing good, but we are not doing anything,” said Mr McCabe. He wants to embed a culture of green thinking and action into the fire service through behavioural change and said it was exciting to see people come together to tackle climate change. 

“All over the world fire services and fire crews are seen to be providers of safety and protection so all civilians go, I feel safe because there is a fire crew near me. Imagine as a beacon for the environment that each fire crew are saying, we are actually tackling climate change because we care about our community,” explained Mr McCabe.  

He has been working with Laois Fire Services since last November and there has been steady progress in Durrow. 

Mr McCabe said “the system of GreenPlan is analyse, reduce, produce. We are entering the last stage of the bronze phase which is to analyse, which is the assessment. Then we are going to reduce. That doesn’t necessarily mean renewable technology. That means we might have to think outside of the box and following the results in the silver phase, actually think differently and that is usually where the biggest monetary saving is. Then in the produce, the gold phase, that’s when you consider things like solar panels so they are now powering lesser demand, that’s the important part,” he said. 

“By following the framework we are able to reduce emissions, reduce waste, reduce water, improve biodiversity,” said Mr McCabe.

Laois Firefighter Stevie Thomas has been looking after the initial analysis phase of the  project at Durrow Fire Station. 

“The improvements are going to be made here first at this station. The following station will then follow on from Durrow. We will test everything first here,” said Mr Thomas. 

“We are starting off with a simple audit here to see what improvements we can make for saving energy. We have already started with collecting our bottles and batteries, recycling them, putting the money back into the station. We’re starting with small little things,” he said. 

More costly items like insulation will be addressed in time but new windows have already gone into Durrow Fire Station.  “We can start up with the big stuff now that the papers have been signed,” Mr Thomas said. 

GreenPlan Captain and Portarlington Sub Station Officer Ed Gallagher is overseeing the implementation of the GreenPlan. He said the audit is underway at the flagship project in Durrow and will begin at the remaining seven stations next week. 

Senior Assistant Chief Fire Officer with Laois Fire Service, Anthony Tynan, said the initiative is a priority for Laois County Council and Laois Fire Service. “The crews are involved here to try and build on our plan and try and adapt and led the way. We are getting great buy-in.” 

“Climate change affects us day-to-day on calls all the time. Forest fires, extreme weather events, we are seeing it at the forefront so it’s important for us as well as reacting to it, to try and be part of the solution, part of the proactive response,” Mr Tynan explained.  

“We are going to look at renewable energy in stations, more energy efficiency, that’s all part of our plans. Even our rescue equipment, that’s all cordless, it used to be engine powered,” he remarked.

Laois County Council Environment Awareness Office, Sam McLeod, said each of the fire stations are different and will face different challenges. 

“Hopefully we will make big savings, not just in terms of carbon, but monetary as well that we can put back into the station to their wellbeing and enhancing how they work. That’s why there has been such a buy-in,” said Ms McLeod. 

Mr McCabe was excited to note that community groups were getting involved in the GreenPlan. He said implementing the GreenPlan across all eight fire stations in Laois is likely to take at least five years.

The fire stations are located in Durrow, Abbeyleix, Stradbally, Mountrath, Portarlington, Portlaoise, Rathdowney and Mountmellick.