Dublin Fire Brigade has reported its busiest Halloween night in 15 years.
A total of 1,620 calls were processed on Saturday night, a spokesperson said. The service received 585 Dublin fire calls, with 470 of these directly relating to Halloween.
A further 366 fire calls were processed in Leinster, and Dublin ambulance service processed 669 calls.
Footage has emerged of chaotic scenes in parts of Dublin, including cars being set alight.
The videos circulating on social media show fireworks exploding in residential areas, cars being set on fire, and incidents of dangerous driving in housing estates with crowds watching on.
One video circulating on social media shows sparks flying as a young male standing atop a car takes an angle grinder to its roof.
Another video shows a car driving dangerously, in reverse, as it appears to ram a parked car twice.
In a separate video, from the same estate, a different car is seen driven at speed and performing a frontal ramming a parked car.
It is understood Cherry Orchard in Ballyfermot was one of the areas affected by the public disorder.
“Our operational crews had to battle not only multiple bonfire-related calls, but several house fires, vacant property fires, car fires, serious road traffic collisions and many serious emergency medical service calls,” a spokesperson for Dublin Fire Brigade said.
They said all Dublin Fire Brigade frontline appliances were mobilised and busy for the entire evening, but all of its crews were safe with no injuries to report.
The spokesperson said there were a number of factors at play in the increase in activity.
“The fact it was a dry, mild evening,” they said. “It was a Saturday night, and also the increase in access to illegal fireworks through online channels, leading to an increase in Halloween-related activity on the streets and around bonfires.”
Greg O’Dwyer, chief fire officer with Dublin Fire Brigade, said the volume of calls to its communication centre on Halloween night was up by more than 60 per cent compared with last year’s figure of 1,040 calls.
He said 150 firefighters worked Halloween night in the capital, while additional staff were on duty taking calls. They were all “flat out” from lunchtime on Saturday to 4am on Sunday, he said.
O’Dwyer said a vacant house in Northwest Dublin was set on fire four times, and the Fire Brigade rescued three pets from a house fire in Dublin city centre.
Other Dublin callouts on Saturday night included a serious road traffic collision involving an e-scooter, and a stabbing on the boardwalk in the city centre.
“There were a number of areas where robbed cars were set on fire, and they were barricading roads with burnt-out cars to try and stop fire trucks getting into bonfires … the good news for us is none of our crews were injured or attacked,” O’Dwyer said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Galway Fire Brigade said Halloween night in Galway city was quiet this year. They responded to six or seven bonfire-related calls, which was well down compared with previous years, they said.