LIMERICK City Fire and Rescue service were forced to temporarily decommission an appliance on Monday night last after members of the service came under attack from a gang of youths as young as 10 years of age.
The youths, using rocks and other missiles, smashed the window of the fire service’s first response vehicle during a call-out.
At around 5pm, a fire appliance attending a bonfire in the Fairview Crescent area of the city came under attack from youths throwing rocks.
During the incident a large rock was thrown at the appliance smashing the driver’s door window.
No firefighters were injured during the attack but the appliance was taken off the run overnight for repair.
Gardai are investigating the incident.
The latest reported attack comes just three months after a “vicious and nasty” attack on Limerick firefighters over the May Bank Holiday weekend was videoed and shared on social media sparking widespread condemnation.
The attack in May promoted Fianna Fail’s move to enact legislation seeking mandatory prison sentences for attacks on frontline emergency service members
The bill is to be put is to be put before the Dáil Eireann upon its return.
Last Monday’s attack by a gang in a city housing estate had similar hallmarks to May’s attack where a gang of youths used weapons including shovels, a pool cue and even large rocks to attack a Limerick fire crew that was dispatched to a bonfire.
Video footage was posted on social media capturing the moment a youth attacked a firefighter from behind, striking him with a pool cue, and then brazenly standing and confronting other firefighters.
The violent attack, investigators say, was clearly meant to inflict an injury on the firefighter while Gardai say that Monday’s attack was meant to intimidate firefighters dousing the bonfire.
Like Monday, May’s attackers used large rocks to throw at the crew members and to smash the windscreen of the fire truck.
The latest incident, and similar incidents in the past, have been widely condemned with many calling for implementation of legislation to allow for full prosecutions, leading to mandatory jail sentences, for attacks on members of the emergency services.
Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins said that attacks on emergency services were a “serious low in society, and something that should be eradicated with the appropriate deterrents.
“It’s nothing short of a disgrace to see a small number of people attack emergency workers as they try to do their jobs,” said Deputy Collins.
The legislation, if passed, would seek a mandatory five year minimum jail term for those convicted of such an offence.
Last year the Irish Fire and Emergency Service Association (IFESA) called for the Government to review their decision to reject legislation allowing mandatory jail sentences for those convicted of assaulting and injuring emergency services workers.
Nationally, there is an attack on a firefighter every 36 hours but Limerick is well below that trend, however, IFESA chairman John Kidd said that it is an extraordinary situation that emergency workers, who everyone in society says are doing a great job, are not being properly protected in the course of their duties,” he said.
