Fire engine firm runs steady ship

Sídheán Teoranta has been established in Spiddal for over six years. In that time, the fire engine manufacturers have made considerable progress as Managing Director Rory McCarthy explains to Cian Ó Raghallaigh.

Sídheán Teoranta has been established in Spiddal, Co. Galway since 2000. The company started that year after a management buyout of the fire engine side of the business from IDT. Specializing in the manufacture of fire engines, there has been a steady increase in the demand for the services of fire brigades and back-up services such as this one. The company provides several other facilities outside of manufacturing including refurbishment, repairs and providing vehicles in times of an emergency. Since its establishment, Sídheán Teoranta has grown steadily; capital investment into fire brigades and an increased need for this service has meant that the company’s role has taken on greater significance.

Rory McCarthy, Managing Director at Sídheán Teoranta, explained what the company’s work involves.
“The main work we do involves building new fire engines and emergency vehicles. We built 14 in 2006, most of which were for County Councils and other Local Authorities for whom we also do refurbishment work and repairs. We also supply second hand fire engines and we have a couple of service people on the road who provide a regular maintenance service as well as emergency breakdown service,” he says.
Sídheán Teoranta also supply a wide range of fire and rescue equipment such as Godiva vehicle pumps and portable pumps, Lukas and Hurst Rescue equipment. They are the sole supplier of spare parts for Godiva pumps in Ireland. The current World Series Godiva fire pumps are the result of many years of ground-breaking design expertise. Sídheán Teoranta’s role with Godiva is very important to them.

An increase in employee numbers also suggests that the company is gradually making its mark. At the moment there are 25 people employed at Sídheán Teoranta. This is significant given that there were only seven people working at the company when they started out in 2000. “It’s got bigger bii; He highlights the role played by the Department of the Environment in increasing the number of new fire engines in the country. A national study in 1996/1997 helped to highlight the inadequacies within the Fire Services and in particular it brought into focus the poor state of the fleet with many old and obsolete fire appliances still in service at that time. Due recognition was given to the necessity to improve the overall service and a Government commitment was made to provide the necessary finance to upgrade the vehicles, fire stations and equipment.
There has been a major improvement in the amount of capital investment by Government in new vehicles and equipment over the past 5 to 6 years and this has resulted in a welcome increase in the numbers of new fire engines and emergency tenders being built throughout the country,” he says.

Sídheán Teoranta has the facilities to carry out repairs and upgrades to existing fire engines and among other jobs during 2006 they carried out major upgrades to two vehicles for Kildare County Council as part of their emergency coverage for the Ryder Cup. They are agents for the supply and servicing of Lukas and Hurst hydraulic rescue equipment which is used to rescue people trapped in cars involved in road accidents. Outside of that work, Sídheán Teoranta also employs people in the testing, repair and certification of fire ladders and winches.
Refurbishing older vehicles is also a key element of the company’s work. As their own website states, refurbishing can give a new lease of life to older fire engines and it gives the opportunity to upgrade and modernise the fleet. So, for anyone with an interest in improving their vehicles, several choices are available to them including beam gantries, pump repairs and reconditioned pumps, scene lights and lightmasts, shutter repairs and bodywork repairs.

The company has recently become involved in providing a service facility for airports e.g. servicing fire engines at small regional airports such as the Aran Islands. They also provide an annual maintenance service to Galway airport, such as servicing the airport crash tenders (This is a fire engine specially designed for use at airports in the event of aircraft accidents). Included with the maintenance the Sídheán service people have the qualifications and equipment to carry out tests of the foam and support equipment used by the airport fire brigade.

There is enough there, one would think, for the company to develop and grow. Not quite. Sídheán Teoranta is always on the lookout for new developments and techniques with which to advance the company. One of these involves the design and development of specialised vehicles which can be used as a backup to the ordinary fire brigades. Included are large volume water tankers equipped with fire pumps for the fire services. “The ordinary fire engine would carry a maximum of 400 gallons while these water tankers can carry up to 2500 gallons,” says Rory. They are of invaluable assistance in cases of emergency on motorways with limited access where the nearest point of entry can sometimes be up to ten miles away.
How then are the company employees arranged?
Outside of the assembly work, the company has, he says, its own design/engineering team, manufacturing people, mobile service and maintenance, stores/spare parts, some people assigned to sales, marketing and tendering, tele-sales plus accounts and general administration

What then is the biggest challenge for the company?
“There are a lot of cross-sectional skills required in our business and retaining these is vital but the biggest challenge to date has been keeping up to date with all that is going on in the industry. There has been a lot happening, new products, new developments, new regulations and there are for example, an increasing number of legal requirements from our own regulatory authorities and from the EC in general.

“We have to be aware of all new rules and regulations, there is no excuse in the eyes of the law, indeed small companies like ourselves would need to employ a full time legal expert if we were to keep on top of everything. The amount of red tape, regulations and paperwork is getting too much and something will have to be done to alleviate the burden on small companies, all this comes at a cost and adds to our already stretched overheads.”
All things told, then, Sídheán Teoranta looks well set for the challenges it faces over the next few years. The company has come a long way since its foundation. Little reason why they cannot maintain that progress.