About me Alan Finn

l joined the Dublin Fire Brigade in February 1994 after being in the Civil Defence Auxiliary Fire Service since 1989. Stationed first in our HQ for 7 years both in the old HQ which opened in 1907 and then the new HQ which opened in 1996. During my time in Tara Street HQ l rotated from firefighting to ambulance to emergency call dispatch in the Eastern Regional Control Centre.

While there l expanded my duties by first becoming a light driver on the ambulance and then a heavy driver with responsibility for driving and operating a fire appliance.

l was elected a safety representative in 1999 and spent 4 1/2 years doing that in addition to my fire / ambulance duties.

In 2001 l moved to the suburbs on the southside of the city to serve in a single pump, single ambulance station.

The area our station now protects has over the 10 years of the celtic tiger (or years of madness) expanded greatly with a huge amount of construction most notably the M50 motorway, the Dundrum Town Centre which has a footfall of 50,000 a day and what seems an incalculable number of house and apartment blocks.

In 2006 l began working for the Health and Safety Unit of the brigade on a rotational basis but staying primarily operational. In 2006 l also joined the Fire Investigators Association of Ireland www.fireinvestigation.ie initially to build a new website but l now sit on their committee and am a member of the International Association of Arson Investigators.

In 2008 l completed the Marine Emergency Response Course for ship firefighting along with udating my skills for the new Continuing Professional Development Course on the Paramedic side of things as well as another week of Compartment Firefighting.

As for the future well that has yet to be written!