What to Do in an Emergency

When to Call 999 or 112

Always call 999 or 112 in the event of a fire or if someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

If it is not a life-threatening emergency and you, or the person you are with, does not need immediate medical attention, consider the options below before dialling 999:

• Look after the patient at home or check if family or friends can help.
• Talk to your local pharmacist.
• Visit or call your GP.
• Make your own way to the hospital's A&E department.

We receive a large number of calls regarding patients who do not require an emergency response and could be treated more appropriately using a different pathway of care.

Choose the best treatment for your needs. It allows us to help the people who need us the most in the shortest time possible.

What Happens When You Call 999 or 112?

When ambulance calls are received in our control centre, they are answered immediately. Our call taker will ask the caller for their telephone number, the incident location and information about the incident.

To double-check this information, the staff member will then repeat all these details back to the caller.

Our call takers and dispatchers use software to put the call into one of three categories based on its urgency.

Emergency Response Categories

To ensure an appropriate response is sent, each call is given a response appropriate to its categorisation. The three categories are:

1. Immediately life-threatening incidents, such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, unconsciousness, severe loss of blood, severe burns, choking, fitting or concussion, drowning or severe allergic reactions.
2. Serious, but not life-threatening illnesses or injuries.
3. Conditions that are not life-threatening.

Call takers in our control centre use an Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System, which uses information gathered from the caller to prioritise the call. This system also makes sure that the right ambulance resources are sent to the scene. This system also ensures that the most life-threatening cases receive the quickest response.

While the ambulance or fire tenders are en route, call takers also provide medical advice to the caller over the phone. This helps ensure no time is lost in providing medical care.

What Information Will I Need?

When you call the emergency services, an operator will ask you which service you need. If it's a medical emergency, ask for the ambulance service. If there is a fire, ask for the fire brigade. You will then be transferred to an appropriate call taker.

You will need to have the following information when you call:

• Your exact location.
• The phone number you are calling from.
• Information about what has happened.

As soon as we know where you are, we will start arranging help.

Depending on the incident, you may be asked to provide additional information by the call taker.

Additional Questions When Reporting a Fire

• Is there anyone in the building?
• Has anyone been injured?
• Is the burning building attached to other properties?
• What local landmarks would help identify the location?

Additional Questions When Reporting a Medical Emergency

• What is the patient’s age and gender?
• Does the patient have any medical history?
• Is the patient conscious and breathing?
• Is the patient experiencing any serious bleeding or chest pain?
• What is the injury and how did it happen?

Answering these questions will not delay the arrival of Dublin Fire Brigade. But it will help our call takers provide you with important First Aid advice while our crews are on the way.

What To Do Before Help Arrives

Before help arrives, our call takers and dispatchers will talk you through steps you can take to help a patient or prepare for the arrival of our crews. These could include:

• Staying with the patient until help arrives.
• Calling us back if the patient’s condition changes.
• Calling us back if your location changes.
• Asking someone to open the doors and signal to our staff are needed, if you are indoors.
• Locking away household pets.
• Writing down the patient’s GP details and collecting any medication they take, where possible.
• Telling us if the patient has any allergies.
• Following basic First Aid advice.

During this time, our staff will be there to support and encourage you to stay calm.

What Happens When the Emergency Services Arrive

Depending on the nature of the emergency, different resources will be sent to assist at the scene.

Who Will Arrive?

Dublin Fire Brigade’s Emergency Ambulance Service contains a fleet of 12 ambulances. However, Dublin Fire Brigade operates a fire-based Emergency Medical Services system, so a fire tender may be the first to arrive at the scene. All our firefighters are trained and registered paramedics.

Fire crews will respond to all domestic fires in Dublin. Where persons are reported inside, the crew will attend with three fire tenders, a senior officer and an ambulance. For smaller fires, the dispatch team may only send one fire truck.

However, large fires will have a pre-determined response depending on the information supplied by the caller. If there is a known risk associated with the property, a specific response may be informed by relevant pre-incident plans or major accident hazard plans.

Who Will Treat You?

Dublin Fire Brigade has a range of multi-skilled staff who will rescue, treat and transport patients in response to a variety of incidents. 

As well as responding to fires and medical emergencies, our personnel are also trained to respond to incidents involving water rescue, highline rescue, road traffic collisions, flooding, chemical incidents and marine emergencies.

All of our full-time firefighters are trained paramedics. Over 80 are advanced paramedics. They continuously rotate between ambulance and fire duties.

Each of our ambulances is staffed by two firefighters or paramedics. In addition, 21 fire engines with up to 120 paramedics are available to respond.

Contact Dublin Fire Brigade

Whether our staff are fighting fires, enforcing safety standards or educating the public, our priority is to keep the people of Dublin safe. If you have a query about our work, get in touch.