Emergency fire services crew attacked in Athy

By Kim O'Leary A fire crew from Kildare Fire Service was attacked in Athy last night after responding to a call-out. The crew was forced to withdraw from the scene of a fire in an Athy housing estate last night when they came under attack from local youths, who threw rocks and other implements at them as they were dealing with a skip fire on the Clonmullion estate in the town. The fire crew from Monasterevin were mobilised by the Eastern Regional Control Centre in Dublin, to deal with the call in Athy town as the local crew in Athy were already committed to dealing with a haybarn fire at Woodlands, Castledermot, in the south of the county. Damage, although minimum, was caused to the Kildare fire appliance. Missiles and paint cans missiles were thrown at the fire appliance and as the rocks came into contact with firefighters and the vehicle, they withdrew from the scene. The crew was later diverted to the fire in Castledermot and Athy, who had returned to their station were later called out to the skip fire at Clonmullion which was re-ignited. The Clonmullion estate is situated off Leinster Street, on the Dublin road side of the town. Gardai attended the scene with the fire service and they remained at the scene for a short time until after the fire crew had left. It is understood that no members of the crew were injured. In Kildare there has been an increase by 26% in call-outs this year, with over 1,833 calls in 2015. The busiest fire stations were Naas and Newbridge, handling half of all call-outs. Kildare’s Chief Fire Officer, Celina Barrett, speaking on KFM,  said that Halloween is a dangerous time of year and that crews are always worried that they could “miss a life-threatening event” due to attending avoidable fires. Dublin Fire Brigade’s Regional Emergency Control Centre answered more than 872 calls between midday yesterday and 6am this morning Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Donal Petherbridge of Dublin Fire Brigade said it was a successful night as there were no Halloween-related injuries. “It is a slight rise on last year…within that as well, we have around five domestic fires, which would have been standard calls that we would have had, unrelated to Halloween, that we have had anyway,” added Mr Petherbridge. Mr Petherbridge outlined the challenges facing the emergency services such as lack of resources. “We had no fire fighter injuries, no public injuries and there were no public order incidents,” he concluded. Photos courtesy of emergencytimes.ie [caption id="attachment_125785" align="alignnone" width="960"] Aftermath of the attack in Athy housing estate[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_125786" align="alignnone" width="960"] Monasterevin Fire Station where the crew is based[/caption] [caption id="attachment_125787" align="alignnone" width="960"] An emergency service fire brigade[/caption]