By Conor Sharkey

CHILDREN as young as 13 were involved in last week's disgraceful attacks on a Strabane fire crew, it was revealed this week.

Firefighters attending a call out in the early hours of last Sunday were spat at and verbally abused by up to 100 youths making their way home following a night out.

In recent months, taxis and buses ferrying people into Strabane have been using the local fire depot as a pick up and drop off point.

The situation has caused minor problems in the past, however things came to a head last weekend when the crew were delayed from responding to a call out by the drunken mob.

This week the Strabane Chronicle went back to gauge the reaction of those caught up in the incident and to find more about the men and women of Strabane Fire Station.

Currently the station is manned by 24 firefighters, including three females, all of whom make themselves available 120 hours every week.

busiest

Annually, the station deals with between seven and eight hundred call outs, on average two per day. Many of those are across the border in the Lifford/Castlefin areas and the percentage are to deal with road traffic collisions and car fires.

All these statistics add up to Strabane being one of the busiest part-time stations in Northern Ireland.

Heading the local fire force is Station Commander Terry Morrison.

He said if the instances of weekend anti-social activity around the Railway Road continue, security measures at the local fire station will have to increase.

"When the team arrived here at the station last Saturday night, there was between 80 and 100 young people hanging about waiting on taxis and buses that have been using this area for picking up and dropping off.

"Now I would stress that none of these vehicles are local, but the fact remains that the team were impeded in getting in and out of the station.

"When they did ask people to move on, they were spat at and shouted at.

"We have had similar things in the past but this was by far the worst I have ever witnessed.

safety

The Station Commander said, "While the crew know the dangers they face in their line of work, they have to put their personal safety first.

"Last week they had to contact the police just to get access to their place of work and to protect themselves and their vehicles and that should not be the case.

"It's ridiculous that it has come to that but if this type of situation arises again, we will have to consider fencing the whole station off.

"We don't want to do that, because we see this as the community's fire station not just ours and it would be a shame to have to close it to the public," he said.

Highlighting just how young those causing trouble are, Mr Morrison questioned why children as young as 13 are allowed in the early hours of the morning.

"Most of those involved in last week's incident were around 19, but some were as young as 13 or 14.

"It begs the questions, what are they doing out, how are they getting access to pubs and clubs and why are they being allowed to leave these places with bottles and pint glasses?

"With regards to where we go from here, we will just have to monitor the situation and keep our security under review.

"All I would ask is that the station be kept clear at the weekends.

"By all means, the young people should go and enjoy themselves, but leave the station and the fire crews to get on with their work," added the Station Commander.