An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir Dec 2016 / Jan 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 46 | Leaving 'the Rocket house' By CPL LEE COYLE C pl John Ferns, TIS Kilbride, recently retired from the Coast Guard after 36 years volun- tary service, having served as OiC of the Greystones/ Wicklow Unit since 2009, with his father and brother having held the appoint- ment previously. The Coast Guard, Ire- land's fourth blue light ser- vice, promotes safety and security standards; helps to prevent the loss of life at sea, on inland waters, on mountains and in caves by providing effective emergency response services; and safeguards the quality of the marine environment. John grew up in Greystones, where his father served in the local Coast Guard unit from 1952. In April 1980, when John was 16, his father brought him and his 14-year-old brother, Niall, to join the Coast Guard. Later they were joined by their brother Issac and sister Joyce. John referred to the Coast Guard station house as 'the Rocket House', after the Breeches Buoy rescue rockets that were in use years ago. (Breeches Buoy was a system used to take people from a vessel that had run aground.) Training was carried out over four training sessions a year at the time, covering Breeches Buoy recovery techniques and search skills. When he finished school John applied for the Defence Forces, which he had an interest in from an early age, but as there was no recruitment at the time he decided to make use of his knowledge of the water in the meantime and went to fishery school in Greencastle, Co Donegal. Over the next while he worked on trawlers until the DF made contact to see if he was still interested in joining. John finally enlisted into the DF in August 1983 with 2 Inf Bn, Cathal Brugha Bks. During his career in the DF, John has completed seven overseas trips to Lebanon and one to Kosovo. He describes it as like having two jobs, dealing daily with both. "The skills learned from each crossed over to the other and have helped me immensely," John says. Some years ago the Greystones and Wicklow Coast Guard units were amalgamated. As the new unit's area of responsibility encompassed a large number of cliffs, a cliff team was established in 1994. They also got a D class inshore rescue boat in 1998. These improvements came with a higher level of training. On average 75 training sessions are now conducted a year covering a wide range of skills, from search and rescue, to cliff and boat training, and all assessments are conducted to the highest standards by outside agencies. John says that one of their important tasks is visit- ing schools, shopping centres, public events and or- ganisations such as the cub scouts and girl guides to give lectures on water and cliff safety, and to display the equipment they use. John is very proud to have had the privilege of marching the representatives of the Coast Guard down O'Connell Street on the 1916 commemoration parade this year. He is delighted to have served with the Coast Guard, a top class service that provides a valuable service to the community. They have carried out 531 call-outs since records began in 1992, for various reasons such as broken down vessels, searches and recoveries, and even animal rescues. The Ferns family's unbroken 60 years of service with the Greystones Coast Guard unit came to end with John's retirement, as although his brother Niall is still serving full time with the service he is stationed at Coast Guard HQ. Cpl Ferns stepped down as OiC of the Greystones unit on 9th September. In attendance at his stand-down ceremony were representa- tives from most of the Coast Guard's East Coast units, An Garda Síochána, Wicklow Fire Service, and Wicklow Civil Defence.

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