THE Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is attempting to silence its firefighters in Enniskillen for raising “serious concerns” about the organisation's policies and procedures with The Impartial Reporter.

The interim chief fire and rescue officer, Dale Ashford, wrote to all his firefighters last week warning them that they face disciplinary action if they talk to journalists.

“Unfortunately it has come to my attention that information which Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service would deem to be confidential and/or sensitive has been inappropriately disclosed on a number of occasions in recent times,” said Mr. Ashford, in an e-mail seen by The Impartial Reporter.

The message, wrote the senior fire officer, “sets out to ensure that everyone is fully aware of the serious consequences of such actions and that the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service will not tolerate breaches of confidentiality/sensitive information and will take the appropriate action to deal with such breaches.”

A firefighter based in Enniskillen has said the warning comes after information was passed to this newspaper.

“This is about us speaking to The Impartial Reporter about our serious concerns for public safety in Fermanagh, the waste of money and the lack of support from management,” he said.

The source was referring to the revelation that a full-time fire service in Enniskillen with the addition of retained fire-fighters for one year is expected to cost over half a million pounds. The service was introduced back in July as part of a pilot scheme and is considered by some as a “cost-cutting exercise.”

At the time one source questioned why the money “is being wasted.”

“Why is all this money being spent in this way at a time when there are huge pressures on finances? The full-time crew have been known to go weeks without attending call outs recently. We are attending more incidents than they are. We are reacting to calls when people are at their most vulnerable.”

In his e-mail, Mr. Ashford, said that confidential or sensitive information “whether fact or rumour” disclosed “inappropriately” outside of the fire station “can be extremely damaging to the reputation of the organisation or individuals and can undermine public confidence in the Service” and added: “In certain circumstances “unauthorised release of sensitive information can also be regarded as a breach of data protection legislation.”

“It is therefore in everyone's interest that you do not seek to undermine the organisation, its good work and its people by disclosing confidential or sensitive information through the media, social media or speaking directly to journalists.

“You are therefore advised that all communication with journalists and/or the media must be channelled through the Corporate Communications Department and only nominated spokespeople are permitted to communicate directly with journalists and/or media,” said Mr. Ashford who warned: “Any breach of sensitive or confidential information may result in disciplinary action.”

Mr. Ashford said the good work from a majority of staff can be “undermined and devalued” by the actions of a small minority. He explained that if employees have any “genuine concerns” within the workplace there are a number of options including having an informal discussion with the Manager or referring the matter through the organisation's grievance or whistle-blowing policies.

Staff morale at the station according to our source is “at an all time low” and earlier this year firefighters in Enniskillen did not attend the scene of a road traffic accident because their pagers stopped working for more than 30 hours. The problem, described by one fire service source at the time as “potentially very dangerous”, meant up to 19 retained firefighters did not receive any alerts to incidents.

“Is it any wonder people want to speak out? They are trying to stop that,” said one firefighter this week.