Youths who attack fire crews told to ‘cop on’ by Lord Mayor

Lord Mayor of Dublin Críona Ní Dhálaigh has called on youths who attack fire crews at Hallowe’en to “cop on and have some respect” for the people who “may be called on to save the lives of your family members”.

Ms Ní Dhálaigh was speaking as members of the emergency services held a safety demonstration - showing a firework blowing the fingers off the hand of a mannequin - for schoolchildren in Dublin.

The demonstration, which was held at Dublin Fire Brigade headquarters in Townsend Street, also featured a pumpkin being blown apart by a firework, and an oil fire that was exacerbated by the addition of water.

The Lord Mayor told schoolchildren from Clonburris National School in Clondalkin that every Hallowe’en sees families suffering trauma due to injuries “caused by illegal bonfires and fireworks”.

She praised the work of the emergency services, particularly the Fire Brigade crews that were going around schools speaking to children about the importance of safety at this time of year and encouraging children to only attend official family events over Hallowe’en.

Speaking to The Irish Times, the Lord Mayor said youths who attack fire crews should “cop on and have some respect”, as these crews go into communities to help save lives.

Station officer David Kavanagh said officers were concerned about the numbers of attacks on personnel and vehicles at Hallowe’en, which is the busiest night of the year for the service.

Hallowe’en call-outs

Last year saw more than 600 call-outs for Dublin Fire Brigade officers on Hallowe’en, with the environmental clean-up costs of bonfires running between €1.5 million and €2 million per year.

Mr Kavanagh said officers have been visiting schools in the greater Dublin area in a bid to explain that the service “is not out to end their fun”, but to direct them to supervised events organised by the city council.

He said that the advantage of this outreach was “that they see us as human beings”.

Chief fire officer Pat Fleming said that there were about 1,000 personnel in the Dublin Fire Brigade, serving a population in the Dublin region of more than 1.2 million.

The ambulance service operated by the Fire Brigade served a population of 800,000 people in the city and operated 24-hours-a-day, he said.

Mr Fleming said the danger of unauthorised bonfires is that they may contain aerosol containers and other material that may be explosive.

He said fireworks were illegal and therefore “not covered by any manufacturing standard” here.

He did not quantify the level of injuries suffered by firefighters or the cost of the extra workload at Halloween, but he said it was clear that there were extra resources involved.

Mr Fleming said that this year the fire service would be using Twitter and Facebook to drive the safety message.

Also at the safety demonstration was Gillian Bird of the DSPCA, accompanied by her “greyhound lurcher” Daniel.

Ms Bird reminded people to keep their pets indoors at Hallowe’en.

Members of the Garda Mounted Unit also attended the demonstration with two horses , “Oscar” and “Donough”, who posed for photographs with the children.