Organised events on Halloween led to reduction in injuries, says fire brigade chief

Vivienne Clarke

The introduction of organised family events for Halloween has led to a reduction in the number of injuries according to the assistant chief fire officer of Dublin Fire Brigade, Greg O’Dwyer.

The service dealt with 120 calls between 5pm and 7pm on Tuesday evening, which was the busiest period, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

Over the course of the evening, they dealt with 244 fire calls and 385 ambulance calls, emergency medical calls.

“Thankfully, only two of those were firework injury related, but overall, a very, very busy night but manageable.”

Without a doubt, the introduction of organised events was the single biggest factor in the reduction of incidents.

“I know the weather played its part last night also, but the single biggest factor is all of these organised events that the local authorities are running, and the local community groups are coming together as well. And it's just a fantastic night.

“There are some films, there's a lot of entertainment and lots of activities and food and some have organised (legal) fireworks as well. And they are a lot better than standing, just watching a bonfire.

"Parents realise that the kids themselves are starting to realise that and there's less of a demand for it and anti-social bonfires, which is fantastic for us.”

Mr O’Dwyer added that local authorities assisted in their efforts to stop the stockpiling of material for illegal bonfires, which had significantly reduced the number of bonfires and made them smaller.