Halloween 2018: Over 335 fire-related calls made to fire brigade

Dublin Fire Brigade received hundreds of fire-related calls on Halloween, traditionally one of its busiest days of the year.

The fire brigade had received 337 fire-related calls by 11pm on Wednesday, of which 200 were related to Halloween activities, including one incident at Dolphin’s Barn when a car was driven onto a bonfire.

The Dublin Fire Brigade control room, which covers emergency services for counties across the east of the country, had on Wednesday received a total of more than 750 calls by 11pm.

No injuries had been reported by 9pm.

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All fires and incidents reported to the control room were logged on the Dublin Fire Brigade live map which followed the outbreak of fires across the city. Outside Dublin, a fire was also reported at a playground in Celbridge .

The full Dublin fleet of 21 fire engines and 137 fire fighters was in operation on Wednesday to meet the high demand for callouts throughout Halloween night.

While the volume of calls was high, Darren O’Connor, a sub station officer at Dublin Fire Brigade headquarters, said the worst of the callouts would come later in the night.

Mr O’Connor said the service handled 340 calls last Halloween and 220 of those were bonfire-related. The Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance service also processed 370 ambulance calls. “The National Ambulance Service would have dealt with a lot more,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Our main priority is the protection of property, so bonfires that are lit too close to property, that are going to have an effect . . . drifting across roadways into residential areas, [near] utility installations – property of any type,” he said.

Mr O’Connor noted reports of increases in people going to the North to buy fireworks.

"I think the big concern in Ireland would be that fireworks are illegal and there's a bit of a cloak-and-dagger thing around it really."

Mr O’Connor said the fire service attempted to reduce the risks to people from fireworks by having specific campaigns about them at Halloween time, but that the service was not there to police fireworks.

He also said he and his colleagues would “definitely be supportive” of any legislation to give particular protection to firefighters and first-responders.

“At the end of the day, we all have our families to go home to. We are only there to do a job. We are there for the protection of life and the protection of property, we are not there to interfere in anyone’s fun and we will only take action if it’s absolutely necessary.

“Our main priority is to deal with a Halloween incident safely and to maintain our fire cover for the rest of the city for all our calls that would happen on any normal night.”

Anyone looking to report a bonfire has been advised not to communicate on Twitter or through social media but to contact the emergency services by dialling 999 or 112.

Bin warning

The Dublin Fire Brigade has urged homeowners to keep bins inside overnight, warning on Twitter that they have a “nasty habit of going missing or spontaneously combusting on Halloween”.

Dublin Fire Brigade dealt with 650 calls last week, compared with 350 in the third week in March, Mr O’Connor said.

“We have to manage resources very carefully, [dealing with] all the life-threatening calls, all the domestic fires, the fire alarm activations in institutions, the hospitals and nursing homes, institutional fires, road traffic collisions and calls that take precedence.”

AA Insurance also called on homeowners to take extra care on Halloween night and issued a number of safety tips, which included keeping your house well lit through the evening to keep vandals and pranksters away. AA also urged homeowners to avoid leaving flammable materials in the garden and not to let pets outside the house.