Dublin Fire Brigade found itself trending on Twitter when it decided to live-tweet Halloween night incidents as they occurred.
Using the hashtag #DFBLive, Dublin Fire Brigade let its followers know just how many call-outs it was dealing with on its busiest night of the year.
It also posted a map with a little fire symbol for each incident in the capital. It started the map at 4pm. By 8pm, it looked like the whole city was ablaze.
A total of 86 incidents were recorded by early evening and the night, as far as bonfires were concerned, was still quite young.
A spokesman said the purpose of the initiative was to keep the public updated on incidents, but only the most significant ones were included.
“Not everything is going on Twitter. Your fingers would be worn out fairly quick typing up all the incidents,” he said.
Dublin Fire Brigade requested the assistance of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) at an apartment fire in Blanchardstown, where injured dogs had to be removed.
Fireworks
It said a domestic fire in Clongriffin "may have been caused by fireworks" and that its fire engine from Kilbarrack was at a bonfire "too close to a building" in Malahide.
In a potentially serious incident, a fire engine was called to Dolphin’s Barn to deal with a car which had been driven onto a bonfire.
Another potential disaster was averted when units from Tallaght Fire station attended a bonfire under ESB Networks pylons off the Fonthill Road.
Dublin Fire Brigade also had its usual workload to deal with: "We've reports of a domestic house fire in Crumlin. We are sending appliances. We still have to deal with our routine calls, too."
Fire crews in the west attended three bonfires while, in Munster, fire crews were attending four bonfires across Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford city.
Meanwhile, Cork Fire Brigade tweeted its colleagues in Dublin: "Safe safe @DubFireBrigade – hoping for a quiet night in #cork – our bonfire night is in June – you know we like to be different!" – referring to Cork city's annual Bonna Night.
