Through the fire and the flames... Crossmaglen Firefighter tells his story

HAVING worked within the Northern Ireland Fire Service for nearly 40 years, David McDonnell a veteran firefighter has?truly had his character forged through the fire and?the flames of adversity.

Working through the zenith of the troubles up until the modern day David was on the front lines in the fight against the chaos and tragedy that plagued Northern Ireland in its thirty years of sectarian conflict and violence.

Like many of the other public service bodies that carried out their duties during that period in history,?the ambulance service; the RUC; doctors and nurses;?the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade faced its own set of idiosyncratic problems arising from the unique set of circumstances that Northern Ireland presented.

These challenges were unique. It just wasn’t a normal society.

?Now coming to the end of his career David has come forward to tell his story about the time he served within the Crossmaglen Fire Brigade.?

Although David has had a long and prosperous career it may surprise you to learn that he harboured no initial ambitions to join what was then known as the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade, claiming that it was his father whom inspired him to eventually join the service.

“From when I was just sixteen my Dad encouraged me to join what was then the Crossmaglen Fire Brigade which was still in its infancy by asking me “do you want to join”

I was sixteen at the time and like most sixteen year olds I had other things to do and so showed little to no enthusiasm to join the service, however despite this he kept asking me.?

“He did kind of stop asking me towards the end of 1980, because by that time I had started an apprenticeship as a carpenter.

“However all that changed whenever Dad passed away in October of?1982.?I was deeply touched by the fact that whenever he was being treated in hospital all the members of the Crossmaglen Volunteer Fire Brigade (CVFB) visited him in their full undressed uniform to express their sympathy for Jim McDonnell a dedicated member of the CVFB.?My father had served since the?of the inception of the volunteer?fire brigade in 1974 having been one of the six founding members.?

“At the start they only possessed the most rudimentary pieces of equipment with the “fire engine” as they called it being comprised of a small trailer with a pump and hose attached to it that was towed by a van.?I thought the sense of camaraderie between these men was fantastic, and that they well and truly did look out for one and other?caring for each other like a family.

“At Dads funeral every single member of the CVFB was in attendance in full undressed uniform to pay their respects to a fallen comrade. Three days after the funeral we attended a memorial dinner in the recreation room of the CVFB station which at the time was tiny.?

“After the service was over I was followed out of the recreation room by at least twenty of my Dads former colleagues who said to me in very straight forward terms “right you have to take your fathers place.”?

I took one months rest out of respect for my father and then proceeded with the training to join the volunteer fire brigade in November of 1982. 82 turned out to be an extremely eventful year for me as it was the same year that I meet the girl that later would become my wife, so I would say that it was extremely memorable. Although I initially had ambitions to perhaps?move to Australia I later?decided to make my?primary commitment to my service as a firefighter in the CVFB.??

History of David’s time in the?Crossmaglen Fire and Rescue Service.?

Although David’s career in the fire service?has spanned a period of nearly four decades, he has an almost flawless recall of the chronology of the services development in the Crossmaglen area,?from its infancy as the CVFB to its modern incarnation as the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.??

“At the time you see the volunteer fire brigade was not seen by a lot of people to be a serious career as the role was, as the name implies a voluntary position with us only receiving remuneration for each individual call out alongside the position being in addition to our steady 9-5 jobs.??Having said that I would like to say that I think the dedication shown by the Crossmaglen volunteer firefighters was second to none.

"In addition to our other life responsibilities we were undergoing all of the additional training that the full -time staff in the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade had to undergo.?This is also further evidenced by the fact that as already stated when founded in 1974, the service did not have an actual fire engine.?

"This changed when in August 1977 the service received its first proper fire engine, that being what was then known as a Green Goddess (pictured right) painted red to bring it in alignment with the?more traditional firefighting colour schemes.?

“These were an army issued vehicle that were to be deployed in the event of?a nuclear war to extinguish fires.?

“Owing to this fact unfortunately the Goddess sounded like an Army vehicle when be driven and thus we did entertain the possibility of it being the target for a paramilitary style attack late at night when visibility was poor and the only means of ascertaining the identity of a vehicle would be via sound. On a few very rare occasions the firefighters riding in the Goddess would have even engaged the sirens as a means of distinguishing themselves from an army vehicle.

“This did raise the eyebrows of a few army officers from time to time but thankfully no serious incidents of this nature were never encountered by those serving in the early days.?

“In 1979 the CVRB was formally recognised as a Volunteer Section of the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade.?

“With this recognition came more funding in addition to more formal training which involved the attendance of Newry District Officers attending drill nights at Crossmaglen fire station. By 1983 the old Green Goddess fire engine was replaced by an “Ulster” model fire engine, which may I say I personally think is a beautiful model of engine. Four years later we were then promoted up from being only voluntary firefighters to retained firefighters meaning we were paid a retention fee in addition to the turn-out fee for each individual call .

In addition to formal recognition by the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade as a legitimate service and a new model of fire engine the?next major??milestone in the development of the Fire Brigade in the Crossmaglen?area came in the form of the construction of a new fire station in 1993, which like many other things in his time as a fire fighter David has fond memories of.

“In 1993 a new fire station was built in Crossmaglen, it was a fantastic fire station. That is not to say that I would think that the previous fire station was not satisfactory but the new station had a drill tower and drill yard which meant we no longer had to travel to the Newry station to carry out drills. This aided us immensely as it allowed us to carry drills on a daily basis and sharpen our skills to a pinnacle.?

"At this time I had been working with the fire CVFB for over ten years and was now promoted up to the position of both substantive Leading Firefighter and Temporary Sub Officer, but my next major advancement in my career would come in 1999 when I applied to become a full-time firefighter with the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service. Of over 100 potential candidates I was the only successful applicant once we had been through the grueling ringer which was?the recruitment process. Upon successful completion of the full-time training I was assigned to the red watch in Cadogan Fire Station, Belfast. There are 4 watches in the full-time service, White, Red, Green and Blue. Each watch works 2 days and 2 nights so there is 24/7 fire and rescue service available. Cadogan has two fire engines. I was in charge of one of those for a few years. our area covered from Stranmillis right over to Poleglass and to the edge of Lisburn, though when needed we covered the entire city. In 2010 I transferred to White watch Newry which is my current substantive watch.

Due to the span of time David has been working as a firefighter in three?different capacities in Northern Ireland?an abundant amount of incidents of the sort that would not have been encountered?in any other region of the United Kingdom have stayed with him?through the years. Although he did not want to discuss any specific incident in particular he was able to provide a general overview of the physical and emotional challenges that were encountered by he and his colleagues on an almost always daily basis?in his time serving on the frontline as a firefighter through the worst of the troubles.?

“I don’t want to say that one incident is more important or traumatic than the other but I suppose their would be certain incidents were maybe people have lost their life and that would remain with you.?

"In terms of being a volunteer fire fighter and retained firefighter in your own area you would come across incidents in which you would encounter people that you would know and especially incidents in which children would have been involved that would have been much more traumatic.?

"As a full time firefighter in Newry you are covering a large geographic area so the chances of you encountering someone that you know who has been injured or hurt as a result of an accident does decrease by a substantial amount, however the possibility is always there. Although I do not want to mention any specific incidents I could pick a few house fires without hesitation and I could pick more unusual incidents as well."

Although David’s?time in the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade can be considered somewhat challenging if not downright harrowing, he would still encourage anyone considering a career as a firefighter to try their very best in fulfilling this dream as he would still consider it a fantastic and rewarding career. However he does advise?that it is one that?does take a well measured degree of emotional resilience along with some life experience to get used to.?

“In my opinion if someone wants to join the fire and rescue service, yes go ahead, but bear in mind it is a difficult career, especially the full-time vocation.?

"Working as a full time fire fighter you are working a total of two days and two nights and it is not all about flying around in the red fire engine. You are dealing with public emergency fire calls and non-emergency fire calls.

"Before the COVID-19 outbreak you had to carry out duties such as calling into peoples homes and fitting smoke detectors and you would have to deal with circumstances in which you could potentially go from this comparatively easy task to a more stressful, traumatic incident in the same day. Because of this I would recommend that anyone who is considering a career within the Fire Service to have a good degree of mental and emotional resiliency. You have to be able to deal with the whole spectrum of human emotion from one extreme to the other.?

"For example in the full-time station the retained are called out by a bleeper, in the middle of the night you could have to possibly respond to an incident if called out. You just have to be able to get up and get on with it."

Although David’s time working for the CVFB and the NIFRS has been more than difficult at some points he did have something rather inspiring to say not only to those considering a career within the fire service but to all those who face difficult circumstances in their professional lives.?

“Having said what I have said regarding the challenges that I have encountered in my time as a fire fighter, if I could go back and do it all over again would I change anything? No, definitely not.?

"The only real regret that I have is that I cannot stay on longer and that I have to retire now. That's the only regret that I have. I was taking my fathers place and I could not have done anything else in my life which could have made me more prouder.”