Firefighters During the Troubles: The Men and Women on the Frontline Tell Their Stories

Before the outbreak of the Troubles, a typical firefighter’s year might have included call—outs to chimney fires, the occasional house fire or road accident, and – even more rarely – a large factory or hay shed fire. While a firefighting career was always inherently exciting and risky, for most firefighters moments of high drama were anything but a daily occurrence.

Then everything changed, and Northern Ireland’s firefighters spent almost every day of the next thirty years racing to the scen...