Halloween Busiest Night of the Year for Irish Firefighters

IRISH

IRISH

Joined
Feb 4, 2010
Messages
862
For those not on Facebook just thought id give you some info on Halloween Night here in Ireland

As of 01:00hrs Sunday 1st November Dublin Fire Brigade Ambulance Service have attended Over 150 Calls in 6 hours

As i type an Ambulance has been attacked and now off the road after been hit by a beer bottle smashing a window. Both Firefighter / Paramedics are ok.

The demand for the ambulance service is set to increase as the night goes on as we head into the pub / club ending time and many alcohol and violence related calls

The Fire Brigade itself has dealt with 100 Fire Callouts in 4hrs 8pm-12pm thru-out the city on top of the usual Saturday night call log

There has also been 3 reported attacks on Dublin Fire Brigade including at 1 Domestic House Fire when Crews fought to save a house which had gone on fire after a firework went through the window

Outside of Dublin the has been Attacks on Fireifghters in Cork, Clare and Limerick all with Rocks involved. Thankfully all damage is minor and to vehicles at this time



 

Attachments

  • CSr6hFHWsAApgZg.jpg
    CSr6hFHWsAApgZg.jpg
    52.3 KB · Views: 360
Does Dublin increase manning for this, how many building fires for the night?
 
Dec, I didn't realize it gets so busy over there on Halloween night. If I remember correctly, the manning is an issue there also. I don't think you have the number of ladder companies like we do here. Somewhere I think you had mentioned that also. A busy night there could be really tough unless extra companies are manned with additional personnel.

Here in the USA, going back into the 1980s, Detroit, Mich., and Camden, NJ had what was referred to as Devils Night. It was the night BEFORE Halloween when there was a huge increase in fire activity. I think it was 1984/85 when Detroit had 200 Working Building fires on that one night. I remember talking to a couple of buffs from New Jersey who had gone there. They told me at one point, there were building fires going on both sides of the street and in front of them with nobody left to respond. A few months later Firehouse Magazine came out with a story about it.

But for every fire there is, there is also the chance of a civilian or firefighter getting hurt (or Worse). Let's hope for this busy night, our Brother/Sisters in Ireland and everybody else will be okay during this very busy night of such activity. 
 
blzdp said:
Does Dublin increase manning for this, how many building fires for the night?
Click to expand...

No there is no extra manpower on duty for Halloween Night. Its covered by the same number of FFs as a normal Saturday night / Sunday Morning 18:00 - 10:00

To Give a summery of last nights incidents.

Between 18:00 Saturday - 08:00hrs Sunday DFB Dispatch processed over 700 calls, 280 EMS calls, 19 Domestic house fires, 193 small/bonfires, 26 unconscious cases, 1 water rescue.

Unfortunately there was a number of call outs that resulted with crews being attacked, Including when dealing with a Domestic House Fire with Fire thru the roof and one Ambulance taken off the road for repairs after a bottle hit the window, thankfully no members injured. D-Watch has handed over the reigns to C-Watch as of 10:00hrs and are due back on shift at 18:00hrs Tonight

1/2 of Dublins Engine were still out on the road at 3:00am this am. They were even still running calls at 9am this morning for those late night stragglers who fancied starting fire before bed

Cork City Fire Service were attacked with stones and bottles last night while dealing with a call to a bonfire. Limerick City were attacked  with stones and bottles dealing with a fire and an Engine in County Clare was hit with a rock causing minor damage to the appliance lockers

You are right Willy D there is a shortage of Ladder Trucks in Dublin with just 3 covering the entire city of about 1.8m people. To my knowledge for a time last night Dublin was down to 1 Truck as the other 2 were tied up with 2 separate incidents at the same time. 1 a Water Rescue and 2nd Industrial Fire


**** Just on a side note and a little brain teaser ****

Dublin has the rota system as NYC 9-6 / 6-9. Some of you may have picked up that i wrote.....

"No there is no extra manpower on duty for Halloween Night. Its covered by the same number of FFs as a normal Saturday night / Sunday Morning 18:00 - 10:00 "

Anyone know why Dublin Firefighters do an extra hour EVERY Sunday finishing at 10am?






 
My immediate guess would be that it's to allow time for the 9x6 to attend Mass before reporting for the tour.
 
Dec, you haven't spent enough time here!  You gotta be kidding!

I do remember, though, that when I was growing up, the 9x6 at Engine 1/Ladder 24/Ambulance 1/Searchlight 21/Division 3 would go to Sunday Mass at St. Francis of Assisi across from the firehouse and stand in the back of the church so they could hear if the housewatch sounded the apparatus' siren to let them know there was a run.  I also remember that some other companies would take the rig to church and leave one man outside with it to hit the siren if they got a run.
 
Obviously Not Manhattan lol

I only found out about this a few weeks ago and thought it was a unique thing lol Guess Not  :'(
 
In NYC 4th of July's from around '76 to the early '90s used to be the busiest night.....before that in the late '50s early '60s election night in Red Hook although localized was very busy numerous bonfires & vacant bldg Fires ...double & triple sections in 202 279 101 & 131....all that is History both changed i think due to the changing demographic as well as stricter law enforcement .....i remember several New Years Eves in R*2 that were extremely busy including the one year when the bombings occurred in BKLYN & Manhattan....we responded to 2 of them 1 in BKLYN & 1 in Manhattan... http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/02/nyregion/faln-puerto-rican-terrorists-suspected-in-new-year-bombings.html?pagewanted=all
 
Yes Chief, I remember those Fourth of Julys.

There is a thread in the "History Section" called "Oh those busy Fourth of Julys" with some stories and videos if anybody wants to check it out. It is http://nycfire.net/forums/index.php/topic,3382.0.html  (if that works)

One of the videos NOT posted in there is this one I believe. It was from a TV series called "Rescue 911" of the busiest night of the year, "The Fourth of July". This video also features Chief Feehan at 5:00 mark, who was one of the 343 firefighters lost on 9/11.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvmN8GQ0n_c 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top