Civil Defence go from strength to strength here in Kilkenny

The huge contribution of the Civil Defence in Kilkenny was recently highlighted after the organisation made a presentation to local councillors in County Hall.

From assisting with the evacuation of Wexford General Hospital to helping to clean the River Nore, the organisation has gone above and beyond the call of duty in recent times.

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“The first half of this year has seen us invest in our search and rescue capabilities with the purchase of a new boat allowing us to access all types of river rescue,” Acting Civil Defence Officer Michelle Colclough told Kilkenny Live.

“Between the Nore, the Barrow and the Suir, within the county of Kilkenny, there are approximately 98.3kms of water with three very different types of river systems.

“To complement this, we recently purchased a brand new Hummingbird PWMA Sonar. This sonar can show the boat crew several different images of the riverbed at once.”

Also planned over the next few weeks are initiatives that will upskill local people in first aid and bring smiles to the faces of many local children.

“We have many more first aid duties planned and are currently working with Children and Young People’s Services Committees to do our annual toy delivery to children with special needs across the county,” Michelle explained.

“We have also invested in our new mapping system Mapyx. This system allows us to plan events and track missing person searches, including running a track on a missing persons phone. We are working very closely with An Garda Síochána assisting them with same.”

The Civil Defence have also been increasingly engaging with other water groups such as Kilkenny Kayak Club and Kilkenny Sub Aqua engaging in joint training exercises to strengthen their communications.

Another key area of service delivery has been the running of Community First Responder courses with some GAA clubs.

“This will allow us to train some of their members in correct CPR and use of an AED,” explained Michelle, and “this is proving very successful to date.”

“Ten of our volunteers have also been operating a community first responder group in Kilkenny City since last August.

“Outside of their work and regular Civil Defence training they respond to 999/112 calls for cardiac arrest within the city.

“We have assisted other community first responder groups throughout the county with training.”