Wexford Civil Defence deployed 4×4 Jeeps to Wexford, Enniscorthy, Gorey and New Ross on Wednesday 28th February 2018 in preparation for Storm Emma. We also supplied beds and blankets to Wexford County Council to establish a homless shelter in Enniscorthy Presentation Centre.

We continued to supply support to Wexford County Council, HSE, and NAS from Thursday 1st March right through to Tuesday 6th March when we took our last call.  Wexford Civil Defence were also supported by 4×4 Teams and EMT’s from Tipperary and Laois on 4th & 5th March. Continue Reading

Be Winter Ready website helping to make your home and business more resilient and prepared for severe weather.

Be Winter ready booklet Be Winter Ready Booklet – Final Version 29082017_0

Wexford Civil Defence held our county training day on Sunday 19^th November 2017. Volunteers from Gorey, New Ross, Ballygarrett and Wexford took part in a multiple skills training day on Forth Mountain and Carrigfoyle Quarry. Skills tested on the day included AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service), Search Skills using GPS radios and a casualty trauma site.

The Wexford Welfare Unit provided the food for the day and served up a nice dinner from their catering trailer on the mountain. The training day was followed by our presentation dinner hosted in the Riverbank Hotel.

The dinner was attended by Minister Paul Kehoe, TD., Chathaoirleach of Wexford County Council, Cllr John  Hegarty, Cathaoirleach of Enniscorthy Municipal District, Cllr Keith Doyle, Mayor of Wexford, Cllr Jim Moore, CEO of Wexford County Council, Mr. Tom Enright, Director of Services, Mr John Carley, Emer Dalton Principal Officer Department of Defence and Chief Superintendent John Roche.

Volunteers were presented with their 1916 Commemoration Medal by Minster Paul Kehoe, TD., Certificates of courses were also presented to volunteers for courses completed during the year.

Wexford Civil Defence – Recruits 2017

Long Service Medals – 40 Years & 10 Year Medals

Wexford Unit

Wexford Rescue & Wexford Welfare Units

New Ross Casualty Unit

Gorey and Ballygarrett – Casualty Units

Relay for Life Wexford

Saturday 29^th July – Sunday 30^th July 2017

Wexford Civil Defence provided medical cover for the 24 hour Relay for Life in Wexford. Units from Gorey, New Ross and Wexford covered the event in shifts. The event started at 2pm on Saturday 29^th July and finished at 2pm on Sunday 30^th July. A total of 16 volunteers provided cover with 3 ambulances.

Relay for Life is a great event to be involved in, great community spirit and the organising committee ensured the event ran without any hitches. Thanks also to the committee for their kind words of thanks

Thank you Wexford Civil Defence for watching over everyone at Relay For Life Wexford. It was a long 24 hours, but you made sure we stayed safe and healthy throughout! I even saw some of you take a lap around the track as well, which just makes you guys even more amazing! A million times thank you for everything you guys do for County Wexford & for us at Relay.

#RelayWexford #RFLWexford #relayforlife

Wexford Civil Defence took part in the Wexford Maritime Festival on Wexford Quays from Saturday 1^st July to Sunday 2^nd July. 31 Volunteers over the two days provided medical and communications cover for the event. As part of the festival we also had a display consisting of vehicles, equipment, drones and boats. Showcasing the equipment and vehicles we use to provide services to the community. We had a number of expressions on Interest in joining the organisation.

The Fire appliance proved very popular with the children for photo opportunities and a chance to try on helmets and fire gear. The drones proved popular for children and the adults alike, with great interest in how we use them. Minister Paul Kehoe dropped in during the day to add his support and have a look the vehicles, equipment and drones.

Thanks again to all the members of the public who dropped by to say hello to our volunteers and take interest in the equipment and vehicles we use.

Photos Courtesy Malcolm McGrath

Are you interested in becoming a member of our

Auxiliary Fire Service Unit

Civil Defence provides second line support to the Fire Service. Volunteer skills include pumping, transfer of water, Water Awareness, Swift-water & Flood Responder. During environmental and flooding events Civil Defence provide trained personnel and equipment in support of the Local Authority.
We will be starting a training course in July 2017,
there are 8 places available.

For further information or an application form

please email cdo@wexfordcoco.ie

or call 053 919 6265

Note all Civil Defence Volunteers need to be Garda vetted prior to attending training, Garda vetting takes approx 4 weeks

Wexford Civil Defence took part in a regional competition hosted by Meath Civil Defence Tara Mines, Navan on Saturday 8^th April 2017. Teams from Cavan, Dublin, Monaghan and Wexford took part. The competitive elements were foot drill, Search, communications and a Rescue / First aid site. The teams on consisted of ten persons and two subs. Wexford emerged as winners in the foot drill while Dublin won the over all competition.

The Wexford team put in a great performance and were placed runners up overall in a very close competition. It was a great competition in a great location hosted by Meath, the presentation dinner was hosted in the Newgrange, Navan.

Back row left to right Michael Byrne, Emer Doyle, Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Philip Creane, Jonathan Gethings, Liam Healy, Matt Deane, James Pierce, Alexandra Drafilova. Front row left to right Anne Browne, Sinead Furlong Leader, Peter O’Connor CDO, Minister Paul Kehoe TD, Aileen O’Neill, Geraldine Duffin.

Wexford Civil Defence carried out a joint training exercise with Wexford Fire Service on 29th March 2017. The exercise simulated a two vehicle collision on a road late in the evening. Wexford Civil Defence provided the medical assistance, while Wexford Fire Service manged the scene and removed the roof and doors of the vehicles to allow for extraction of the three casualties from the vehicles.

The exercise tool place on a closed piece of road within Wexford Town. Wexford Fire Service responded with three fire tenders, while Civil Defence provided two ambulances, Incident Contol and the drone for over view of the exercise. Wexford Civil Defence were represented by units from Wexford, Gorey and New Ross.

The exercise was of benefit to all, with everyone working together to achieve the objectives of the exercise. We planed plan to hold a further exercise later in the year.

Curracloe, County Wexford provided an idyllic venue for last Saturday’s Civil Defence Regional competition, hosted by the Civil Defence section of Wexford County Council.  Teams from Carlow, Dublin, Cork South and Waterford joined Wexford’s Civil Defence team in a number of gruelling exercises throughout the day, designed to test each team’s abilities to respond to staged incidents involving multiple casualties.

Elements of Saturday’s competition included foot drill, missing person search, communications and two casualty / first aid scenarios, with team members challenged to manage the accident scene, treat / rescue casualties and triage casualties for transportation.

The missing persons search competition tested the teams search capabilities in the challenging but ideal environment of the Raven forest with two missing casualties to be located.  Teams were required to plan the search, deploy search teams and setup a communications system to manage the search teams.

The final events of the day were fun team challenges consisting of a sack race with 4 people in each sack and the use of three-person skis. These exercises were highly popular with the partaking teams and provided much enjoyment for the many attending spectators – but they were definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Wexford Civil Defence volunteers provided the staff and equipment to run the day’s events, with their hard-working welfare team providing food and refreshments for over 120 people on the day. Food was prepared in Wexford Civil Defence Headquarters in Ardcavan and served on site from the Wexford Civil Defence mobile catering trailer, while the Army provided tents for the registration and food serving.

The Sunny South East lived up to its reputation, with glorious sunshine throughout the day contributing to a very enjoyable occasion for all taking part.

The day’s activities were followed by a prize giving dinner at the Ferrycarrig Hotel. Among those attending were Mr Paul Kehoe TD, Minister with Responsibility for Defence, Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council Councillor Paddy Kavanagh and Mayor of Wexford, Cllr Frank Staples, The Department of Defence was represented by Mr. Stephen Hall while the Civil Defence Branch Training Section was represented by Róisín McGuire, College Principal and a number of staff members.

Carlow Civil Defence proved to be worthy winners in the combined services element of the competition, while Waterford Civil Defence was victorious in the foot drill element. Minister Paul Kehoe presented the prizes to the winning team.

Team A Carlow – Winners – Ferrycarrig Hotel

The year just past marked the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. This was a seminal moment in the history of the Irish State. There were many events held across the country to commemorate the centenary.

In honour of the role played by Civil Defence volunteers throughout the country during the year, and the ongoing supports provided to their local communities and the frontline emergency services, Mr. Paul Kehoe TD, Minister with Responsibility for Defence has commissioned a specially designed medal to be presented to members of Civil Defence. The medals will be awarded to all members of Civil Defence who were in active service with Civil Defence during the year between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2016.

The Minister said “Civil Defence volunteers give freely of their time to support State agencies and local communities in times of need. The work they do is unpaid but it certainly does not go unnoticed. The awarding of this medal is a small token of appreciation for the level of service provided by the volunteers.”

The Minister went on to say “the work of Civil Defence members benefits society at large, it reaches into every community alleviating the hardship of others such as in times of flooding or in searches for missing persons. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to acknowledge the commitment and dedication of those who served in Civil Defence throughout 2016.”

Arrangements for the presentation of the medals will be made in due course.

This training will familiarise students with the basic procedures, the most common procedure words and hands on use of the U.H.F Hand portable and Mobile radios and for the efficient use of these radios in simple one to one use. To train operators to competently operate as part of a Radio Net (open net).

Volunteers from Wexford , New Ross and Gorey units were represented on the course. Radio communications is a key tool for covering events, searches and civic duties.