Members of the Dublen fire brigade at a call out on the North Circular road in Dublin City. Photo: Mark Condren

Just a few minutes after they first received the call, firefighters from Dublin Fire Brigade were battling a blaze in a smoke-filled house in the capital's north inner city, carefully paving their way across a floor which was littered with rubbish, cans, aerosols and syringes.

It's just after midnight on Friday morning, and members of Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) are attending a fire at a residential property on the north side of Dublin city.

All the inhabitants of this building, many sleepy, are safely installed in the front garden by the time we get there and the fire is quickly extinguished due to the dozen or so men in uniform strolling in and out of the house in a manner that is so calm and relaxed it's almost impossible to believe they just saved several lives.

As the majority of the population of 1.3 million people slept soundly across the city and county last Thursday night, 170 firemen and women were powering their way through the night in 14 different stations. But last week was nothing particularly special, this happens every night.

Shortly before 7pm that evening, District Officer Donal Petherbridge was guiding us through the control centre in Tara Street fire station, explaining that the seven or eight people manning the phones before us were operating the "nerve station" of Dublin's fire service and dispatching "all the tentacles of the brigade".

The Dublin native is now almost 30 years in the service and he describes it as a vocation.

The dedication and loyalty he has to the DFB uniform is evident from the way he passionately and proudly explains how deeply rooted the brigade is in our society.

Donal explained to us that the fire brigade has already responded to almost 18,000 calls in Dublin since the start of the year. He is the District Officer of the 'C-Watch' team in the Tara Street station, where 19 officers were on the 15-hour night shift in what is known as the Echo district.

The special thing about the team that keeps our city safe, and the unique service they offer that is often forgotten, is that they are all trained paramedics who work on both fire appliances and ambulances.

This is a raw topic for the team we were following, as Dublin City chief executive Owen Keegan recently announced that the HSE's National Ambulance Service will become responsible for all emergency calls in Dublin.

Members of Dublin Fire Brigade passionately believe that the dual response works and shouldn't change. And, we saw several pertinent examples of how efficient it was in the city last Thursday.

Shortly after 8pm, we were speeding down the quays in a blur of blue lights. A woman in her 80s needed help, as a caller has told dispatch she was displaying symptoms of a respiratory arrest. This is what is classified as an 'echo' situation, when a person could die unless they are in receipt of immediate medical intervention.

We reach the south Dublin facility where she lives in eight minutes and by the time we arrive, a fire appliance from Dolphin's Barn is already at the scene and has retrieved this woman from the brink, undoubtedly saving her live.

She is then carefully placed in the ambulance and transferred to St James's Hospital.

"From the medical emergency perspective, our ambulances deal with an average of 16 calls in a 24-hour period," Donal tells us.

"From the medical perspective, our fire tenders attend around 14,000 medical calls per year. So they would be first in attendance at nearly 66pc of cardiac arrest cases that we are sent to." Shortly after 9.30pm, we were pulling up to a busy St Stephen's Green, where a woman in her 50s had been struck by a taxi.

Within three minutes of the call coming in, the fire brigade and ambulance were at the scene and within a further six minutes she is "treated, packaged and gone to hospital".

"It shows our simultaneous response of a fire tender and ambulance at the same time, that's where it kicks in. Everybody arrives there, the tender parks in a position where the ambulance crew is protected from any other oncoming traffic, so that makes the scene safe for everybody," Donal explains.

As the night wears on, it's coffee and comradery that ensures the energy levels and spirits don't dip.

The team treats a man in a city centre pub whose friends feared he was displaying signs of a cardiac arrest and another man who was thought to have been assaulted.

"We are a very close bonded unit of people within this organisation. We look out for each other," Donal tells us as he makes us a cup of coffee in a large kitchen where the DFB crew in Tara Street cook meals and eat together.

After 2am, it's our clocking off time, but before we leave Donal shows us a painting that's hanging in the main reception area.

This large painting was commissioned as part the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2012.

And incorporated into the large canvas are images of some members who have passed away, including Willie Bermingham who founded Alone, and DFB tenders that attended the scene of some our country's most historical and defining events; the Easter Rising, Bloody Sunday and the Stardust tragedy.

Other pieces of memorabilia which adorn the walls include items from visiting American firefighters, and Donal tells us that an "unspoken bond" exists between the firemen and women of our two countries.

"Regardless of where the firefighters and paramedics are from, they still experience the same fears, satisfactions, stresses and emotions. It's a way of life.

"It gets in to your blood, in to your system."

Irish Independent