In November, our Blossom Gateway participants visited the Dublin Airport Fire and Rescue Services. It was a rainy Saturday, our meeting point was a car park on the west side of Dublin airport runway. We were welcomed by Ken and Dominic, our guides for the afternoon. Both of them are firefighters at the airport and they opened the doors of the station to us.
Like everybody else at the airport we first had to go through security. Ken and Dominic gave us a lift and we went through the security gates reserved for airport staff and pilots. We had our passports checked and bags screened.
Once on the other side, we arrived at the fire station and were amazed by how big it was, how many trucks they were and the big green plane parked on the tarmac. We were joined by Ray, who introduced us to the history and the map of the station and showed us a quick video about the equipment they use at the airport.
After this introduction session we tried on the firefighter outfit including the jackets and of course … helmets! Eoghan even tried a white officer helmet!
We continued to explore the fire station and discovered the training facilities where Ken, Dominic and Ray are trained. We visited a pitch black room where firefighters have to find dummy bodies with smoke all around them. Ken gave us some advice on what to do in case of fire and how to protect ourselves.
But most incredibly we had the chance to see the green dummy plane burst into a real fire! This was really impressive (..and warm on this rainy day!). We were not all confident to be too close to the fire but Dominic and Ken convinced us to pose for a picture!
Finally we all hoped on the fire trucks direction the runway to see if we could see more planes! We were lucky and found a DHL plane being loaded. We stopped to have a look and take pictures.
This was a fantastic experience for us as not only we visited parts of Dublin airport you can’t access otherwise but we also experienced first hand what it was to be a fireman and learned more about the job.
This was once in a lifetime experience for our young people. Ray, Dominic, Ken and Turlough were the most kind and generous hosts who made every minute fun and engaging.
Sarah, Blossom PEP Educational Programme Coordinator
Thank you so much Ray, Dominic, Ken and Turlough for your time and generosity. We had a ball!
