Cork city firefighter says bonfire night was the busiest he has seen in more than 20 years 

Cork City Fire Brigade crews responded to 52 call-outs yesterday, including a house fire, a river rescue, two car fires, and a road-traffic collision, with one senior firefighter describing it as “the busiest bonfire night” in 20 years.

On Tuesday evening across Cork, people gathered to celebrate the annual midsummer marking, which is an ancient Celtic tradition dating back thousands of years.

While the Pagan festivities originally honoured the Celtic goddess Áine, the day has evolved, becoming more of a turning point in the summer-time calendar, rather than a celebration of historic traditions.

While Cork City Council has made significant efforts to encourage “Non Fire Night” in recent years — so that people will find alternative ways to mark the celebration — several bonfires were lit in the areas of The Glen, Farranree, and Knocknaheeny.

The tradition is high risk for uncontained fires, with the fire brigade saying that additional crews were rostered to cover the stretch of the city boundary.

Busiest night 

Speaking to The Echo, the third officer with the fire brigade, Tadhg O’Mahony, said it was “the busiest bonfire night that I’ve worked in 21 years”.

“We attended 52 calls, so it really was the busiest I’ve ever been at,” said Mr O’Mahony.

“The more serious calls included a river rescue, a serious house fire, two serious road-traffic collisions, multiple car fires, and, on top of that, all the bonfires.

He said: “The house fire was at the Beeches in Glanmire. We sent three units to the fire to get it under control.

“It was extinguished after 10pm and nobody was hurt, thankfully. There was, however, extensive damage done to the house, so we were very busy.

“There was also a major collision on the South Ring Rd, heading towards the Douglas exit, involving an articulated truck and three vehicles,” said Mr O’Mahony,

“Two people had to be extricated from their vehicles and were taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH).”

Multi-vehicle collision

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said the multi-vehicle collision occurred shortly after 5.50pm, and a man in his 50s was taken to CUH for treatment of “serious injuries”.

A woman, also aged in her 50s, was additionally taken to CUH for treatment for what were understood to be non-life threatening injuries.

Mr O’Mahony said there were also “a couple of car fires”, one of which occurred on Liberty Hill in “a dangerous position”.

“Then, in the middle of all of that, there was a river rescue,” said Mr O’Mahony.

“We had extra crews on for Bonfire Night, so we had five units covering the city.

“None of the bonfires were out of control. A lot of them, in fairness, were supervised, so they were safe enough.

“We had no real trouble from anybody; we attended 28 bonfires.”

Mr O’Mahony additionally said that crews were assisted on the majority of callouts by gardaí and by the National Ambulance Service. “Only for them, we wouldn’t be able to manage it,” he said.

Mr O’Mahony said his thoughts were with the people impacted by the more serious incidents, including the family affected by the extensive house fire, and the two individuals transported to CUH for medical treatment.