Fire Control Operators at Ireland’s three regional fire control centres dealt with hundreds of fire and emergency calls yesterday evening and into the night, mobilising fire crews from almost every county to various incidents last night for what is the Fire Services busiest night of the year.
The control centres are the Eastern Regional Control Centre at Townsend Street in Dublin, the Munster Regional Communications Centre at Mulgrave Street, Limerick and the Western Regional Control Centre at Humbert Way, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Emergency Times has compiled the following regional report on 01.11.14 @ 14.30
Donegal – Fatal House Fire
One man died following a house fire at Carnmalin, Malin Head, Co. Donegal shortly after midnight. Gardai are investigating the incident and a technical examination is underway.
Meanwhile, extra Gardai were drafted in to police an area of Finn Valley, east Donegal last night in order to prevent a repeat of last years incident in which a group of teenagers targeted Gardai and fire crews with fireworks as they attempted to deal with two large fires in the area. Gardai reported a relatively quiet night in the area last night.
Dublin
A massive blaze broke out Go-Kart premises on the Old Airport road in Swords, Co. Dublin at around 9.15pm. Plumes of thick black smoke were visible for miles. A number of units of Dublin Fire Brigade, including fire appliances, a water tanker and a foam unit dealt with the fire while also dealing with another large fire at an all-weather astro turf soccer pitch in Ticknock, while two stolen cars were also pushed into bonfires at Captains Avenue, close to Kylemore Avenue. Meanwhile, gardai and fire-fighters dealing with separate fires in Clondalkin and Palmerstown were forced to abandon the scene of both fires after the fire tenders and garda vehicles came under ‘attack by a gang of youths’.
Pic: Dublin Fire Brigade @DubFireBrigade
Bus Fire – 20 Passengers removed.
A bus caught fire on the N2 near Finglas. Fire fighters assisted up to 20 passengers of the bus. There were no injuries reported. By the early hours of this morning, the fire brigade had dealt with 8 large fires, 4 domestic fires, 3 fire at industrial premises, 17 car fires, 3 lorry fires, 134 small fires and 4 road traffic collisions.
Kildare & Laois
In Kildare, fire fighters were fighting a large blaze for most of the night as up to 700 bales of hay caught fire at Millicent Hall, at Firmount, Clane. Fire crews from Naas attended the incident with a fire appliance and water tanker. A nearby canal at Digby Bridge was used as a water source.
In a separate incident, Five Units of the Fire Brigade dealt with a truck and trailer fire on the M7 Motorway at Junction 14, Monasterevin last night. Kildare Fire Service was assisted by Laois County Fire & Rescue Service. A section of the motorway was closed and diversions were put in place.
Pic: Leinster Leader (Hay Fire at Millicent, Clane, Co. Kildare)
Cork
It was a quieter night in the Rebel County as Cork City Fire Brigade and Cork County Fire Service reported they dealt with just a number of small scale incidents, apart from one large isolated incident, separate to Halloween itself. A spokesperson said “This was mainly because bonfire night takes place on a different night in Cork, and on that night there would generally be hundreds of calls to Cork’s fire brigade.”
Up to five units of Cork City Fire Brigade dealt with a fire at a restaurant in Blackrock in the city. The fire was discovered at approximately around 5.40pm. The premises was said to be ‘well alight’ on arrival. Fire-fighters wearing breathing apparatus searched three apartments above the building, and all three were made clear with no persons found. It is understood an over fire may have caused the blaze. The building was extensively damaged. The blaze was brought under control and extinguished by 8.30pm. There were no injuries reported.
Pic: Courtesy Padraig Barrett in Cork
Limerick
Limerick City and County Fire Service said Halloween passed without any major incidents and with no reports of ‘out of control’ fires. Limerick City responded to two fires while Limerick County responded to four minor fires. Meanwhile, Gardai in Limerick have said there were no major issues associated with this years Halloween celebrations.
Galway
While Galway Fire Service also reported a ‘generally quiet’ night, Galway Gardai however said they were ‘inundated’ with calls throughout the city from people in nearly every estate, reporting bonfires and people using fireworks. However, Gardai conformed there were no reports of injuries late last night.
Waterford
There were no reports of any major or serious incidents in Waterford City or County last night, however, early in the evening Waterford City Fire Service released a woman who became trapped in a public toilet. The incident happened at around 6pm on the Quay in Waterford City. Emergency services were called to the toilet, which has an automatic locking system, after reports of a woman being locked inside and couldn’t get out. The fire crew managed to free the woman after a short time.
Pic: Waterford City Fire Service facebook
Clare
There were no reports of any major or serious fires in Clare on Halloween night; however, on the eve of Halloween, emergency services in Ennis, Co. Clare were called to an apartment fire at Barrack street at around 5pm. Residents were evacuated from the apartment complex. Three units of Clare County Fire Service from Ennis fire station, a HSE Ambulance crew and a Rapid response paramedic unit responded to the incident.
Fire fighters wearing breathing apparatus searched the building. Early indications are that the cause of the blaze may have been an electrical fault, in a corner where a TV was. No one was injured in the incident and efforts were being made locally to accommodate the affected residents.
Pic: Courtesy Pat Flynn (Emergency Services Clare facebook)
Ambulance Response
It was a busy night for the HSE Ambulance Service and Dublin Fire Brigade’s ambulance service too. Dublin Fire Brigade reported that the Capital’s emergency services were pushed to its limit after they received more than 600 emergency calls from across Dublin city and county. A spokesperson said “Thankfully there were no reported injuries or assaults to fire crews last night and all personnel are going home to their families safe,” while John Kidd of the Irish Fire and Emergency Services Association said he was glad that appeals to the public by the emergency services ‘not to attack or harass emergency services staff’ were heeded. There were no reported injuries or assaults to fire crews last night.
Pic: The late Eddie Gentles RIP
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