Carlow Fire Brigade From Volunteers to Professionals
The origins of Carlow Fire Brigade go back to the 1878 when Members of the Town Commission along with the aid of some local residents set up Carlow’s first official volunteer fire fighting force.
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The Helmet worn by the Carlow Volunteer Fire Brigade. Photo Carlow County Museum.
A report in the Carlow Sentinel newspaper of Saturday 4th January 1879 states “we feel pleasure in announcing the formation of a volunteer Fire Brigade for Carlow in connection with the Carlow Rowing Club and Athletic Club and Racquet Court.
At a preliminary meeting held a fortnight since, some 30 members were enrolled and application have been made to the Town Commission to supply a portion of an outfit, such as helmets and buckets for the Brigade. At present the Town is dependent on the Military Fire engine, which has been freely placed at the disposal of the Commissioners by the authorities, but we hope before long to see the Town supplied with an engine of it’s own. The Brigade held their first practice at the Military Barracks on Monday, and on Thursday elected the Officers by Ballot”.
The horse drawn fire tender and crew in 1898. Photo Carlow County Museum, ccm 06-02.
According to its edition of 20th September that year the new Fire Engine specially made for the Carlow Town Commissioners by Messrs Shand and Mason, London, which arrived in this Town last week was tested on Tuesday afternoon. “After a minute inspection of the Engine, which is well and tastefully fitted up, and provided with lamps, buckets, portable tank, several length of hose and all other requisites, a pair of horses was attached to the machine, was manned and then driven by Mr R G Johnston, at a smart pace, through the principal streets of the Town. The novel procession attracted a good deal of attention and a considerable crowd subsequently collected at the Quay to witness the test trial, which was considered satisfactory, although the engine was not worked to it’s full power. It is guaranteed to throw a jet of one hundred and thirty foot high”.
Carlow Firemen of 1898 and 2006. Photos Paul Curran.
We take the following items from the Minute Book of the Volunteer Fire
Brigade, which is part of the Museum collection.
An inaugural meeting was held in the Town Hall on March 13th, 1906, to reform a Volunteer Fire Brigade. Present at the meeting were: Messrs. Michael Molloy, Chairman of U.D.C. (presiding); Michael O'Reilly, U.D.C., Wm. Douglas, U.D.C., James O'Donnell, G. M. Harriss, Wm. Duggan, Jas. Bolger, Jnr., Gerald O'Reilly, J. J. Skinner, J. Lawler, H. Gale, L. Williams, Jas. Williams, A. E. Connor.
The following were elected to form the new brigade. Hon. Supt., Mr. James O'Donnell; 1st Officer, G. Marshall Harriss; second officer, Leonard Williams. Firemen: William Duggan, Edward Duggan, James Bolger, P. P. Carbery, Gerald O'Reilly, James Lawler, J. J. Skinner, Henry Gale, F. G. Thompson, James Williams, A. Connor.
At a later meeting it was decided that in the event of the Brigade being called to deal with a fire in the county, five members should be selected to remain in the town in case of an outbreak inside the urban area. It was decided that the fire alarm (the bell of St. Mary's Church) was only to be rung with directions to Mrs. Pielow, the caretaker from the Head Constable of the R.I.C., the Chairman of the Urban Council, or the Superintendent of the Brigade, this was to prevent false alarms being raised.
At a meeting in June, 1906 it was decided to charge a Mr. Edge £3. 17. 6. Brigade Expenses for attending a fire at his residence, Rutland Lodge. The amount was made up of £2 for horse hire and £1. 17. 6. for 'wear and tear' of manual engine and hose.
Again there appears to have been a re-organising meeting of the Brigade, which was held in September 1912. Mr. M. Governey, presiding; Mr. T. Murphy, U.D.C., treasurer, Supt. Carey acted as Secretary. The following applied for membership of the Brigade: Messrs Edward Burke, Michael Byrne, Cornelius Coakley, Bernard Hennessy, Martin Hogan, John Hayden, James Keegan, Patrick Moran, Michael Mulhall, Patrick Parr, Francis Power, Richard Rogers, R. Rappelle, Thomas Scully, Charles Smart, James Sunderland, John Sweeney, Richard Toole; H. Freeman, Constable Corr, Wm. Murphy, Peter Dwyer, Jas. Byrne, Patk. O'Toole. At a further meeting the following officers were elected: Capt. Cary, Supt.; R. Rogers, 1st Officer; J. Hayden, 2nd Officer; Patk. O'Toole, Sec. Firemen Sweeney and Hennessy members of Fire Brigade Committee.
A Carlow Volunteer’s Fireman’s Axe.
The last items in this minute- book deal with two meetings in March 1916. At the first Mr. M. Molloy, M.P., U.D.C. Chairman, presided and the members of the U.D.C. present were Messrs E. Shackleton, E. Duggan, T. Murphy, M. Governey, P. Breen, W. Purcell and F. Williams. Constables Corr, Brennan and Jackson attended with the 1st and 2nd officers, secretary and eleven firemen. The minutes state the business before the meeting was "the resignation of the Brigade 'in toto' ". Mr. Governey said he regretted to hear this and asked for the reason for this step. Second officer Hayden said there were four reasons: 1st, unjust criticism by the public; 2nd, uncertainty of procuring horses for conveying fire engine outside the borough; 3rd, depletion in the ranks of the Brigade; 4th, as the majority of the remaining members of the brigade were employees of Governey's boot factory they considered it unfair to expect the sacrifice of time in the event of an outbreak of fire during working hours.
Mr. Governey said he did not think the Brigade members were so thin-skinned as to mind the unfair criticism of people who were not prepared to do anything to help. With regard to attendance of his employees at fires, when he had no objection to their abstention from work, it might surely be passed by the Brigade as not being necessary to question. Mr. Molloy said as the services of a fire-fighting Brigade were so necessary, he hoped they would reconsider their intention to resign. The other members also appealed to Brigade members not to resign.
Constable Brennan said he was surprised to hear of the resignations, but as far as the attitude of the public to the Brigade, they had ample reason. He cited the case of a fire in Hollymount, when they had to turn to the military barracks to provide horses and driver to carry the engine to the fire; they had to pump the water from a boghole a long way from the outbreak, not only would the onlookers not render assistance at the pump but they cut and disconnected the hose. After further discussion the resignations were withdrawn and it was decided to recruit new members
The handing over of Carlow’s first mechanised Fire Tender in June 1937. Photo Carlow County Museum, ccm 85-055.
Much credit is given to Mr. Thomas Murphy of the Cross along with others that the Fire Brigade became mechanised. As a member of the Urban District Council he campaigned and pushed for a fire brigade committee to be formed. A fund was established, the people of County Carlow made donations and the Council, both County and Urban supplemented it.
Photo and audio Carlow County Museum.
Willie O’Neill 55, Tullow Street was awarded the contact to supply a fire engine for Carlow Fire Brigade and on August 1936, he travelled to London to place an order for a heavy-duty water pump with a firm in Wembley. Shortly afterwards, he purchased a Ford V8 engine and chassis from Cork. Over the following months, Willie assembled and mounted the pump and adapted the power transmission to the Ford gear box. William Purcell and Sons, coach builders, 86 Tullow Street, carried out the carpentry work on the substructure, which accommodated the hoses, extinguishers, axes and other gear, under a sub contract. Others involved who worked in the Garage at the time were Jim O’Brien, Johnny and Dick Hogan and Jack Dillon. The painting was carried out by John Kelly, particularly the lettering on both sides of the appliance. Following a few tests runs the fire appliance was handed over in June 1937.
The Second World War throughout Europe gave the Irish Government cause for concern and although Ireland remained neutral, an emergency period was declared. With the advent of the County Managers Act and subsequent advent of the government appointed Fire Officers the days of the volunteer fire brigade were at an end. In 1940, the new fire brigade received its first pay as part-time members. It was former joint Carlow-Kildare County Manager, Mr. Joe Doherty who asked former army captain John Creed to take over the Carlow Fire Service in 1951. Captain Creed was already fire chief of Kildare since 1948. When he arrived, there were no fire tender’s in Bagenalstown, Tullow or Hacketstown. Although the Bagenalstown Fire Brigade had been set up a few years earlier and had invested in a trailer pump. Within a few years Captain Creed would have four well-organised Fire Brigades in the County of Carlow. Motorised Fire Tenders would soon be stationed in Bagenalstown, Tullow and Hacketstown. This joint fire service continued up until 1983 with the retirement of John Creed, since then both counties have their own separate services.
Photo Paul Curran.
The aim of the Carlow County Council Fire Authority is to protect the public from fire and to preserve life and property. Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service provides a total fire service to the community 24 hours a day every day of the year. The Fire Service is an organisation of Technical and Administrative Staff and Retained Fire-Fighting Personnel established and maintained in accordance with Sections 9 and 10 of the Fire Services Act, 1981. In 2004 Carlow County Fire & Rescue Service attended 394 incidents, made up of 281 fire calls, 46 road traffic accidents, 38 special service calls and 29 false alarms. There are four Retained Fire Brigades in County Carlow located as follows Carlow, Muinebheag (Bagenalstown), Tullow and Hacketstown each with their own equipped Fire Stations. Each of the Stations have received modern upgrades since 1990, the newest being Carlow Fire Station was completed in 2002 and also house the Service’s Headquarters.
The new Carlow Fire Station. Photo Carlow County Museum.
The Respirators/ Breathing Apparatus on board the Fire Tender and a vital part of operations, they were originally invented by Carlow scientist John Tyndall in 1871.
Each fire brigade is under the immediate command of a Station Officer, who has either one or two Sub-Officers. The number of fire-fighters employed in each station varies from nine to fourteen persons depending upon the area being serviced by the brigade. All members of the brigades are employed on a temporary part-time retained basis. The total number of retained personnel in the County is forty-five.
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The 2006 Fire Tender purchased by the Carlow County Council Fire Authority. Photo Carlow County Museum.
The front line appliances in each of the four stations are Class B Water Tenders, carrying 1,800 litres of water and fitted with Godiva 2,250 litre per minute multi-pressure pumps. In addition there are a number of special appliances in the County.
A Hydraulic Platform SS 220 based at Carlow which covers commercial and industrial risks. There are three 9,000 litre stainless steel Water Tankers in the County, located at Carlow, Tullow and Muinebheag. An emergency tender is based at Carlow, this tender carries a wide range of rescue and specialist equipment including chemical suits and equipment for dealing with chemical incidents.
Photos Carlow County Museum.
Compiled by
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Finatn O’Neill,
Station Officer John Comerford,
Fire Fighter Paul Curran and
Carlow County Museum.
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