Welcome to the Website of Kerry Civil Defence   --------------------------------------------- Civil Defence is an organisation comprising almost entirely of volunteers. It's prime role is to give aid and assistance in time of emergencies in support of the professional emergency services. Members attend classes in many disciplines, such as life saving skills, First Aid, Search and Rescue, Fire Fighting, Water Rescue, Radiation Monitoring, Radio Communications, and looking after the welfare of those evacuated during an emergency. Civil Defence was set up in 1950 as part of the national defence structure as the necessary civil response to potential hazards which might arise in a war situation. Its inception resulted from the voluntary Air Raid protection organisation which had been in operation during the Second World War. Its function was to “defend against of mitigate the effects on persons or property of an attack on the state or of hazards otherwise arising during a time of war or emergency such as radioactive fallout, biological or chemical warfare”. -------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------