FIREFIGHTERS WERE ATTACKED with rocks last night as they tackled a blaze in Dublin’s city centre.
Members of Dublin Fire Brigade were responding to a fire in the city centre, where a bin store had been set alight.
Dublin Fire Brigade wrote on Twitter that firefighters encountered “anti-social behaviour with rocks and fireworks”.
Gardaí also attended the scene.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland programme this morning, Greg O’Dwyer, assistant chief fire officer at Dublin Fire Brigade, said that no firefighters were injured last night.
Halloween is one of the busiest nights of the year for fire brigades across the country, with hundreds of incidents reported across Dublin yesterday.
O’Dwyer said that firefighters were called to 230 incidents between 4pm and 6am, while there were 298 ambulance call outs.
However, he said that the number of reports were down from previous years. ”People are starting to realise that they don’t need illegal bonfires,” he said.
He credited local councils for working to clear up bonfire material ahead of Halloween and for increasing the number of public events during the evening.
O’Dwyer said that the fire brigade took pre-cautions and worked with Gardaí throughout the evening and into the night.
“On advice from our colleagues in An Garda Síochána, we only tackled those bonfires that were dangerous or too close to property or fumes that were entering people’s homes,” he said.
Ahead of 31 October, Dublin Fire Brigade and Dublin City Council were urging people to stay away from unsecured bonfires as they are dangerous.
Halloween night
There were various incidents reported across Dublin last night. Units from North Strand fire station said they “encountered anti-social behaviour” as they dealt with two cars on fire in Darndale off the R139.
At the entrance to an estate in Fortunestown Dublin Fire Brigade dealt with two flaming cars and a downed lamp post.
Units from Kilbarrack were called after a car was driven onto a bonfire in Coolock. Separately in West Dublin, fire fighters extinguished a van set alight in a driveway.
There were also reports of a bonfire which was acting as a barricade across a Dublin road, while units from Dolphin’s Barn were dispatched and dealt with the makeshift bonfire which had been erected in the Drimnagh area.
Firefighters also responded to reports of two derelict homes on fire in Tallaght and Cherry Orchard.
In Kildare, trucks and containers were set alight. The incident was attended by firefighters from Kildare fire service, as well as one fire engine from Dublin.
With reporting from Garreth MacNamee
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