The Fire Brigade make a vast contribution to the local community whether it be a simple chimney fire or a major traffic accident.

Edgeworthstown Fire Brigade

Edgeworthstown Fire Service was founded in 1947 by Longford County Council. It's first Chief Fire Officer was Richard (Dick) Higgins. The equipment then was a trailer pump and ten lengths of hose. This pump had to be pushed around to fires, but if they had to travel a long journey a hackney car was employed to tow the pump around. This pump was housed in a shed belonging to the Tuite family. A few years after being started the current fire station was built and over the years the equipment improved. The various appliances that were in use over the years were 1. Morris Van 2. Small Land-rover 3. Large Land-rover 4. A second-hand Class B Tender Currently the fire service use a purpose built Mercedes Tender. This machine has built in foam making facilities, carries 500 gallons of water, has all the latest fire fighting equipment plus the most modern cutting a lifting tools available. This tender is manned by a highly trained crew of local men who are dedicated to rendering their services a skills to the local community and surrounding areas. They are regularly called to assist other brigades and the crew consists of nine men who are on call 24 hours a day. The crew consist of a Station Officer, Driver Mechanic, a sub officer and six firemen. There is an average call out of 85 incidents a year. These incidents can be broken down roughly as follows Road Traffic Accidents 10% Serious House Fires 15% Car, Truck fires 5% Forestry fires 5% Chimney fires 55% Fallen ESB wires, Trees, Animal rescue, Chemical Spillage 5% Hayshed and farmyard fires 5% There were rumours some years ago that the service in the town was to be disbanded but thankfully that hasn't happened. It would be more difficult to resurrect this service than it would be to hold on to what there is there now. The local service were in the news some years ago when they had to evacuate a percentage of the local population when a gas truck collided with a wall. And although the driver was killed and one of the firemen injured in the act of recovering the body these were the sole casualties. Long may the service continue.