The economic downturn has proven an ‘undoubted’ factor in the increased call-out levels recorded by Waterford City River Rescue (WCRR) over the past two years.
Referring to Friday, September 6th when the service was called out three times inside 10 hours, WCRR spokesperson Garreth McCarthy told The Munster Express that the service’s importance has been underlined during the recession.
“We suspect a lot of the additional call-outs we’ve had, both this year and last year, have been recession-related,” he said.
“We’re on 26 call-outs this year so far (as of Thursday, September 12th) and we suspect it’ll end up at around the 40 mark come the end of the year, just as it was in 2012. Last year, we were the busiest independent lifeboat station in the country, which is a telling statistic.”
He added: “Our level of activity on one hand just goes to show how important the service has become over the past seven years but, on the other hand, the increased level of call-outs is a concern. But being out more often allows us to improve our skills and get even better at our jobs, which is perhaps the only positive conclusion to be drawn from this.”
