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The History of Bundoran Fire Brigade

Bundoran Fire Brigade was officially formed in 1975 although, there was an old Merryweather Trailer Pump in the town since 1929. This pump would have been operated by a number of unpaid volunteers in the town and was in operation until the late 1950's when a Fire Brigade was formed in Ballyshannon using a "Green Goddess" Fire Engine and paid crew and it was decided that it would cover Bundoran as well. However around 1974, after a number of large fires in the town over the years, including the old Atlantic Hotel, the townspeople and local councillors decided that a Fire Station was needed for the town. In 1974 a site of land was bought by Bundoran Urban Council and the current Fire Station was built in June 1975. In September a Fire Appliance was made available by Donegal County Council and they took over the responsibility of running the new station.

Currently the old 1929 pump is being restored to its original state and its brass and copper fittings are perfect in every detail. We hope to have it on display in the town very shortly. 

For more pictures of this pump click here.

The first retained crew was made up of six men, and their first appliance was a Landrover, as seen in the background in the picture. We still have in our possession some of their Firefighting rigs and helmets. When an emergency arose, the Station Officer who had an emergency 999 telephone in his house, would be alerted and he would set off the siren on the station to alert the other men. This meant that the men would have to listen out for the siren at all times. This was the way in which all retained Brigades were called out in the early days. This system was used until the "Bleeper" system became available. Each Fireman would now carry an alerter, and this made call-outs more reliable and faster.

Above is a photograph of the first crew after receiving their First Aid certificates.From left to right in the photograph, Denis McManus (Deceased, Station Officer), Johnny Mulreaney (Retired Driver/mechanic), Joe Chapman ( Retired), PJ Clancy (Retired Station Officer), Martin Harte ( Retired), John Delaney ( Deceased),

The landrover appliance in the background of the photo above, is similar to the one pictured here, which incidentally is an old Donegal County Fire Service appliance.

The next appliance was a "Green Goddess" as they were known. These were painted green and used during and after World War 2. They were then distributed among many County Councils to be painted red and put into frontline Fire Service. Our Green Goddess was in service with us until summer 1981 and can be seen in this black and white picture.

Reg  ZP ???

The Bedford Angus was our next appliance and delivered to us in 1981. It was in service with us until 2000. It was a brilliant workhorse, and for its day, it was extremely well built and had adequate room for 8 Firefighters. It had a manual gearbox. The only drawback was it not having power steering. (No wonder our retired Driver -Mechanic Johnny Mulreaney ate weetabix for breakfast!)

Reg  JIH 999

Here is a picture of our automatic Mercedes Appliance which we had from September 2000 to September 2001. Coachworks built by Hughes in Ireland.

Reg  91 DL 1999

Today's Appliance is our Scania 220 Automatic.

Pictured here is PJ Clancy (Retired Station Officer) being presented with the keys of our new Fire appliance by Mr Frank Kerrane, Chief Fire Officer for Donegal County Fire Service. The Coachworks were built by Browns Coachworks in Lisburn. Todays Appliance

Today Fire Brigades in Ireland are very modern and very highly trained and have the latest in up to date Firefighting, RTA and Rescue equipment. We thank Donegal County Council, Donegal Fire Authority, the Chief Fire Officer and our Assistant Chief Fire Officers for the equipment they have invested in the Bundoran Station and the training that we receive constantly and we hope that in the very near future, they will provide us with a modern 2 bay Station which will service the vastly growing tourist population we now see in Bundoran.

We thank our employers from our main jobs who are always willing to let us leave work to attend firecalls and we also would like to thank all our retired and deceased Firefighters, for their dedicated long years of service that they gave to our community, for the vital knowledge they gave to the new recruits, for without them, we would not have built up the professional Fire Brigade we have today. We also thank their families, who from day one become a vital part of the Fire Service.

Thank you from all the crew.

© Bundoran Fire & Rescue