'Quiet' Halloween night for emergency services in Athlone

Halloween night passed off relatively peacefully in the Athlone area, with the Gardai and fire service reporting no serious incidents. 

Colm McDaid of the Athlone Fire Service told the Westmeath Independent it received one report of a house fire in the Cartontroy area last night, but when this was investigated it proved to be without foundation. 

It turned out that the person who rang the fire service had seen a bonfire's reflection in a house window and mistakenly thought the house itself was ablaze.  

Mr McDaid said there were a number of bonfires lit around Athlone but the fire service is not called to them unless they get out of control. 

"Halloween has been relatively quiet for us for a number of years now. Bonfires generally tend to be more controlled than they used to be," he commented. 

Sergeant Andrew Haran of Athlone Garda Station said this morning that additional Gardai had been on duty last night but there were no arrests made and no reports at this stage of any criminal damage to property last night. 

On Twitter, Westmeath County Council thanked the emergency services in the county for their work on what it called "the busiest night of the year".