Dublin Fire Brigade has reported its busiest Halloween night in 15 years, dealing with hundreds of emergency callouts.
Of 1,620 calls processed on Saturday night, a spokesperson said, 470 were directly related to Halloween festivities.
A further 366 fire calls were processed elsewhere in Leinster, while Dublin ambulance service processed 669 calls.
“Our operational crews had to battle not only multiple bonfire-related calls, but several house fires, vacant property fires, car fires, serious road traffic collisions and many serious emergency medical service calls,” a spokesperson for Dublin Fire Brigade said.
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Garda sources expressed concern at social media footage purporting to show chaotic Halloween scenes in parts of Dublin, including cars being set alight.
Videos circulating on social media showed fireworks exploding in residential areas and incidents of dangerous driving in housing estates with crowds watching on.
Cherry Orchard in Ballyfermot was understood to have been one of the Dublin areas particularly affected by the public disorder.
The Dublin Fire Brigade spokesperson said its frontline appliances were mobilised throughout Dublin and busy for the entire evening, but all of its crews were safe, with no reported injuries.
“The fact it was a dry, mild evening” was among the factors leading to increased activity, the person said. “It was a Saturday night, and also the increase in access to illegal fireworks through online channels, leading to an increase in Halloween-related activity on the streets and around bonfires.”
Greg O’Dwyer, chief fire officer with Dublin Fire Brigade, said the volume of calls to its communication centre on Halloween night was up by more than 60 per cent compared with last year’s figure of 1,040 calls.
He said 150 firefighters worked Halloween night in the capital, while additional staff were on duty taking calls. They were all “flat out” from lunchtime on Saturday to 4am on Sunday, he said.
O’Dwyer said a vacant house in northwest Dublin was set on fire four times, and the Fire Brigade rescued three pets from a house fire in Dublin city centre.
Other Dublin callouts on Saturday night included a serious road traffic collision involving an e-scooter, and a stabbing incident on the boardwalk in the city centre.
“There were a number of areas where robbed cars were set on fire, and they were barricading roads with burnt-out cars to try to stop fire trucks getting into bonfires ... the good news for us is none of our crews were injured or attacked,” O’Dwyer said.
A spokesperson for Limerick City and County Council said Limerick Fire and Rescue dealt with 10 callouts to bonfires in Limerick on Halloween night, but otherwise it was “all quiet”.
A spokesperson for Galway Fire Brigade said Halloween night was quiet. It responded to six or seven bonfire-related calls, which was well down compared with previous years.
Meanwhile, Kildare Fire Service said one of its firefighters was injured and an appliance damaged when it was pelted with stones during an incident in a housing estate in Kildare Town on Friday night.
“A number of stones, rocks and other projectiles were thrown at the crew and the fire appliance, resulting in an injury to one of our staff and a smashed window,” Kildare Fire Service said in a statement online.
It said an attacks such as this was an “attack on the very people who are there to protect our communities”.
“Our firefighters respond to emergencies calls to protect lives, homes and property within the communities of Co Kildare and should never have to fear for their own safety while doing so,” the fire service said.
Kildare’s chief fire officer, Niall O’Riordan, confirmed the injured firefighter was “doing well” after the incident.
