Half of all retained firefighters in Cork and across the country are continuing to strike for a second day.
If a resolution to concerns over pay and conditions isn't found by next week, all retained fire stations will close.
Firefighters last night walked out as Minister Daragh O'Brien addressed a Sinn Fein motion on the issue.
Brian Murray, who is a retained firefighter in Wicklow, says the Minister is the one putting lives at risk.
"It was a complete rehash of the speech he made, think it was in November.
"It seems to us that he has absolutely no interest in solving what is a national crisis.
"We found it to be very disrespectful what he said in there. We feel as if he may be trying to call our bluff, and in our eyes what he's doing is a public safety risk, and he's going to put lives at risk.
"People could end up dying because of his actions."
