Dublin Civil Defence

In Support of front line emergency services

Civil Defence Ireland is an organisation comprising almost entirely of volunteers. It’s prime role is to give aid and assistance in time of emergencies in support of the professional emergency services. Members attend classes in many disciplines, such as life saving skills, First Aid, Search and Rescue, Fire Fighting, Water Rescue, Radiation Monitoring, Radio Communications, and looking after the welfare of those evacuated during an emergency.

Civil Defence has 4,500 volunteer members throughout Ireland. Dublin Civil Defence encompasses all Dublin local authorities, drawing members from all areas of the county.

Dublin Civil Defence supports hundreds of community events throughout the year. These include large events such as air shows, tall ships, concerts and festivals, sports events. We also support smaller local events such as parades.

Auxiliary Fire Service

The AFS was set up to act as a back up force to the professional front line service. Members are trained in various aspects of fire fighting. This covers pump and ladder drills and various types of fire emergencies. They are also trained in pumping flood waters, and supplying water to the community in times of emergency.

Casualty Service

The Casualty Service are trained to render First Aid to their patients and provide an ambulance service when required. This entails directly diagnosing injuries sustained and applying the correct assistance whether dressing, giving heart massage or CPR.

Rescue Service

The Rescue Service are trained to rescue people trapped in collapsed buildings or crashed vehicles. They also administer First Aid to the casualties. Emergencies such as aircraft crashes, train crashes, explosions and collapsed buildings are recreated to make training as realistic as possible. After achieving competence in the above, members are selected to undergo specialised training in “Heights Rescue” and “Water Rescue” techniques.

Warden Service

The Warden Service is the senior service in Civil Defence. It is composed mainly of mature volunteers. Members are trained in many discipline’s including communication procedures, leadership techniques and especially in monitoring and reporting on radioactive recordings in the event of a radiological incident. Wardens have a major role to play in the National Emergency Plan for Nuclear Incidents.

Welfare Service

The Welfare Service are there to help people in crisis. There can be considerable suffering and further loss of life in emergencies if proper after care is not provided. This can range from basic physical needs, such as providing hot meals, drinks or caring support in the form of counselling. They also provide food for other Civil Defence teams and emergency personnel when required.

Water Rescue

Although not officially a separate service, the boats are manned by members of the Rescue orAFS units. These boats would not be “front line” rescue boats, like the RNLI or Coastguard, but work mainly at events, such as firework festivals or concerts, where there would be large numbers of people near the water, or at events like the Liffey Swim, or Dun Laoghaire Harbour Swim.

Latest News