Wexford fire safety fears raised over 150-year-old apartment buildings

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The safety of those living in 150-year-old buildings in New Ross was brought up at the June meeting of the municipal district with fears that fire safety procedures have not been followed by property developers. With senior assistant chief fire officer Darren Buchanan on hand to answer queries, Councillor John Dwyer repeated concerns he had previously aired in meetings regarding apartments on Mary Street.

“I’m not concerned about the refurbishment of the buildings, more so the safety standards, and ensuring safe egress and access,” he said. “There are four buildings in Mary St that three years ago weren’t occupied but now every room is occupied, and we don’t even know how many people are living there. If there was a fire there are you confident people could safely exit those buildings? They were constructed 150 years ago and have very narrow hallways and stairwells.”

Promising to assess the fire certificates for the buildings in question, Mr Buchanan explained that the certs are issued prior to any renovations taking place.

“There’s no inspections carried out by us during construction, that’s the way the regulations are, it’s a self-certified system,” he said.

“Therein lies the potential problem,” replied Cllr Dwyer. “I’m not saying any of those buildings are not refurbished to an excellent standard, but there’s not necessarily a checking system to see if fire safety is being applied. I went checking for certs for a number of buildings which have come back into use and I couldn’t find them, are they available to view online?”

We’ll be the first ones blamed if there was a tragedy

Having been informed that you could call the fire station and enquire about fire certificates for any buildings in the county, Cllr Dwyer asked whether “unannounced inspections” could be carried out on properties which have recently been brought back into use.

“We’ll be the first ones blamed if there was a tragedy in any of those buildings,” he added.

“We do take a proactive approach to inspections, but it is up to the owner of the property,” said Mr Buchanan. “They have a duty of care to regulate the property and ensure it’s compliant.”