Carlow Fire Services urge against bonfires this Halloween

Halloween bonfires are proving problematic for Carlow Fire Services this year.

Already they’ve attended 25 in the past week across the county, that’s double for the same time period in 2019.

The local crew’s appealing for businesses and householders to ensure that they don’t leave items lying around their premises that could be used to help build flames following a number of incidents of such thefts.

Liam Carroll is the Acting Chief Fire Officer with Carlow Fire Services, and says bonfires are good for nobody:

Bonfires create toxic smoke. They’re very bad for the environment, very bad for people’s health. They create a nuisance for people living nearby when these bonfires are lit. There’s often tires, furniture and people unfortunately use them as a way of burning domestic waste. So please, this year in particular, just don’t light bonfires. They are creating a huge problem for us in 2020.”

Officer Carroll is also appealing to the public to respect the emergency services

It follows three incidents locally where personnel had stones & fireworks thrown at them as they’ve attempted to keep people safe.

Liam says they’re working hard to make sure nobody else gets hurt and damage to their equipment could prove fatal down the line:

“We’re not there to upset anyone or to spoil people’s fun, but if bonfires are creating a nuisance we do have to extinguish them, if they’re dangerous or close to people’s properties and overhead powerlines. But please respect the firefighters and members of An Garda Siochána. We all want to go home in the same condition that we arrived at work. They can cause damage to our equipment and fire engines. If an engine is damaged, if a window is broken, it’ll be off the road and unable to attend life-critical incidents such as house fires or road traffic accidents.”