The control room is staffed by 5 firefighters and one sub-officer / supervisor with a district officer (mobilization officer) in a separate room. One firefighter is primarily responsible for all radio traffic and updating the system as radio messages are received. The other 4 fire firefighters / controllers answer emergency 999 or 112 (911) calls while the role of the sub-officer / supervisor is to oversee the entire operation although they too can answer calls.
Calltakers can mobilize any number of fire appliances and ambulances simultaneously from their computer screens.

Control room staff rotate to fire duties about every third shift and service a minimum of 2 years in the control room.

Call Taking Procedure.
Once a call is received the controller selects the type of incident e.g. house fire, cardiac arrest and then types in the initial street name or building of the address and searches on it. The computer comes up with several matches and the correct one is picked. This means that the rest of the address plus additional directions are automatically retrieved from the data base and filled in. A phone number is added and a key is pressed which lets the computer offer the appropriate response. The controller has the final say based on the information they have received. Once the key is pressed a message printout appears in the nearest station along with bells sounding for that particular vehicle. Crews on the road are given the information via the radio.

Premises such as banks, hospitals factory's, church's etc. can be searched by name and again when found their details are already in the database.

The entire control and mobilizing system was replaced in 2004 by the new STORM system.This has the postal database with every street address and house location in Ireland. A mapping system on a separate screen beside the calltaking screen will automatically locate the address and depending on the level of detail required even individual houses can be shown.

Certain calls primarily for the ambulance necessitate the simultaneous response of a fire appliance with trained EMT's in order to both adhere to EMS (P.H.E.C.C.) protocols and to give the patient a better chance of recovery. These would include all spinal lifts where 5 trained people are required, cardiac arrests, lifting of heavy patient downstairs, road traffic accidents both for extrication and to protect the ambulance crew from traffic and other similar incidents.


 
  .

Details	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Total Incidents for Dublin	92,206	93,714	93,780	99,956	105,277	102,959	98.489	91,001
Ambulance	70,146	71,280	72,455	74,815	76,954	77,484	75,312	68,610
Fire	12,018	11,143	9,853	11,563	13,106	11,613	10,143	11,221
Road Accidents	1,329	1,925	1,853	2,007	2.067	2.083	1,925	1,844
Flooding	390	404	315	335	264	230	417	213
Rescue	36	83	78	85	54	37	32	53
Other, non fire rescue	2,722	2,278	2,256	3,187	513	619	348	292
Haz.Mat. (no fire)	87	219	233	209	40	95	3	59
Malicious	2,747	2,626	1,862	2,609	3,039	2,216	1,494	844
Good Intent	2,728	2,955	3,898	4,617	5,583	4,835	2,091	769
Co. Laois (Total Incidents)		681	642	700	642	789	691	626
Co. Wexford (Total Incidents)					1,433	1,427	1,242	1,277
Co. Longford (Total Incidents)					496	625	625	541
Co. Meath (Total Incidents)		684	727	869	1,184	1,024	1,066	997

Calls for Laois and Meath are not included in the total.
* This figure is the total number of turnouts to ambulance or fire calls and not the total number of incidents. e.g. 3 ambulances or fire appliances may be turned out to the one road traffic accident incident.