Bonfire night - WTF?

120_Minutes

Not long living in cork, whats the deal with bonfire night?

Was leaving mahon point this eve and my wife noticed a large plume of smoke eminating from the estate opposite. thinking it was a housefire I dialled 999 and explained the situation, only for the girl on the phone to explain it was bonfire night and could i check if it was actually a housefire. while on the phone i walked over and confirmed it was indeed a bonfire. she took the address and (i hope) dispatched the brigade.

Hopefully the brigade did arrive and ruin some knacker scums bonfire, because of me.

what significance does todays date have with fires anyway?

Stark

St. John's Eve apparently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_Eve

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/acalend/stjohnseve.html

It's bonna not bonfire

gbee

WTF indeed, unconfirmed report of a child in Knocka having received burns HSE enroute.

For what it's worth, so far, it's very quite tonight, comparatively for Bonna Night.

gbee

120_Minutes wrote: »

what significance does todays date have with fires anyway?

Since the last city manager brought in a payment scheme for refuse collection, this has become the annul incineration of rubbish night for the county.

There are more historic reasons, but in the last seven years, truck loads of refuse is brought to Cork for burning.

The irony is if rubbish is placed in a public place and set on fire, whilst it is an offence, nonetheless the fire service will attend for free and later the city council will clean up the mess and bring it to the dump for free also.

This is at overtime rates in many cases as well. The amount of destruction caused to our city from rubbish burning is a disgrace, it would be easier and overall cheaper to provide a free rubbish collection service in the first place.

Now, whilst this replay may seem to be going OT, it is relevant to why the practice is continuing and all references to St John are long lost.

Cú Giobach

120_Minutes wrote: »

Not long living in cork, whats the deal with bonfire night?

Was leaving mahon point this eve and my wife noticed a large plume of smoke eminating from the estate opposite. thinking it was a housefire I dialled 999 and explained the situation, only for the girl on the phone to explain it was bonfire night and could i check if it was actually a housefire. while on the phone i walked over and confirmed it was indeed a bonfire. she took the address and (i hope) dispatched the brigade.

Hopefully the brigade did arrive and ruin some knacker scums bonfire, because of me.

what significance does todays date have with fires anyway?

So you come to Cork and call the locals "knacker scum" for continuing a tradition hundreds of years old.
The majority of bonfires around the county are not built by and attended by "knacker scum" but the ordinary people of Co Cork.
Out here there were fires on all the hilltops and a large fire in my local village it was a great night for the whole community.
Thankfully nobody came and ruined anything for anyone around here, (they would have been unceremoniously run out of "town" if they tried).

I know rural West Cork isn't Mahon, but the OP made no mention of trouble or danger, only ruining a bonfire.

run_Forrest_run

so another 'bonfire night' is over, lets give thanks to St. John:rolleyes:
I'd love to do a survey on all attendants to such bonfires to find out how many of them actually know what the event celebrates...I'd guess some of the replies could be:

• To celebrate the art of fly-tipping
• To celebrate the art of drinking cheap beer in public and leaving bottles lying around whilst kids (probably their own) play nearby.
• To watch the token efforts of the local Gardai coming along, ignoring the drinking and removing a small amount of debris whilst a blazing inferno roars nearby and hopping back into their 'undercover' Toyota Auris.
• Or just any chance to destroy a nice green in a housing estate that many attendants don't even live in.

Ah yes, we love our celebrations don't we...we're a fierce traditional bunch...I presume we'll see everyone at mass today in
honour of St. John.

Cú Giobach

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

so another 'bonfire night' is over, lets give thanks to St. John:rolleyes:
I'd love to do a survey on all attendants to such bonfires to find out how many of them actually know what the event celebrates...I'd guess some of the replies could be:

• To celebrate the art of fly-tipping
• To celebrate the art of drinking cheap beer in public and leaving bottles lying around whilst kids (probably their own) play nearby.
• To watch the token efforts of the local Gardai coming along, ignoring the drinking and removing a small amount of debris whilst a blazing inferno roars nearby and hopping back into their 'undercover' Toyota Auris.
• Or just any chance to destroy a nice green in a housing estate that many attendants don't even live in.

Ah yes, we love our celebrations don't we...we're a fierce traditional bunch...I presume we'll see everyone at mass today in
honour of St. John.

Your sarcasm is amusing in light of this being an unbroken tradition stretching back into ancient times, changing to reflect the society of the day.
Personally I like the way the Christian element has disappeared and it has become more of what it originally was, a midsummer festival* with wine and song (ok dutch gold and "boom boom" music). When I was a kid it was all novenas or rosaries with a large procession to the local holy well, yawwwn.

Yes I know it was also to celebrate Áine but by invoking her people were celebrating midsummer.

gimmick

120_Minutes wrote: »

she took the address and (i hope) dispatched the brigade.

Hopefully the brigade did arrive and ruin some knacker scums bonfire, because of me.

Fúcking blow in. :rolleyes:

If you do not like Cork traditions, kindly head off back to whatever little grief hole you crawled out of.

gimmick

I would also like to add, that there was no way a fire brigade was desptached. The person who took your call probably just rolled their eyes thinking "not another bogger".

But on a more serious note on this - its a shame these cannot be actually organised byt he communities, rather than a scattered appraoch which is certainly teh case in Hollyhill/Knocknaheey/Churchfield/Fairhill. At least this way, the Gardai and Fire Brigade have a far better chance of preventing any nonsense.

Passed about 6 seperate ones on that route last night, not of which were particularly impressive.

Stark

gimmick wrote: »

I would also like to add, that there was no way a fire brigade was desptached. The person who took your call probably just rolled their eyes thinking "not another bogger".

We've had the fire brigade round many times when I was a kid. Mostly due to the proximity of the bonfires to people's homes.

run_Forrest_run

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Your sarcasm is amusing in light of this being an unbroken tradition stretching back into ancient times, changing to reflect the society of the day.
Personally I like the way the Christian element has disappeared and it has become more of what it originally was, a midsummer festival* with wine and song (ok dutch gold and "boom boom" music). When I was a kid it was all novenas or rosaries with a large procession to the local holy well, yawwwn.

Yes I know it was also to celebrate Áine but by invoking her people were celebrating midsummer.

Glad you enjoyed my comments. You have a point, the church has hijacked a lot of traditionally pagan feasts but at least with a boring rosary and novena it doesn't end with litter all over the place after a night of irresponsible behaviour.

I have no problem in communities gathering together to celebrate an event but the same people are never seen to help clean up after said event.

Basically what I'm saying is there are feckless elements in all communities who don't give a flying fcuk about their community or their fellow neighbours, as long as they have their fun that's the important thing to them.

120_Minutes

Nothing against legitimate well organised bonfires, for whatever religious or pagan reasons, wherever in the country they are. but this bonfire was without a doubt not one of the above, and the people feeding it were ahem "salt of the earth"

But you some of you guys may not have have seen that from your high horses :rolleyes:

Cú Giobach

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

I have no problem in communities gathering together to celebrate an event but the same people are never seen to help clean up after said event.

The problems with this event have arisen due to the dropping off of the Christian aspect which stopped it being a true all community festival and those with a bit of sense just left it up to the kids.
Nowadays many communities are taking back control and properly organising it, instead of just moaning and trying to stop it (which won't work) responsible people should, and in many cases have begun to, take more responsibility.
Thankfully the only trace anything happened here last night, is a patch of burned ground in the village.

Cú Giobach

120_Minutes wrote: »

Nothing against legitimate well organised bonfires, for whatever religious or pagan reasons, wherever in the country they are. but this bonfire was without a doubt not one of the above, and the people feeding it were ahem "salt of the earth"

If it was a bonfire on the 23rd of June in Cork then it was part of traditional county wide "bonna night" (whatever your personal opinion of the participants), if it was the day before, then it wasn't.

But you some of you guys may not have have seen that from your high horses :rolleyes:

All you basically said in your OP was "I'm not from Cork, WTF is it with these fires?, I saw one and got it stopped". And you're surprised a few people were annoyed. :rolleyes:

booboo88

gbee wrote: »

WTF indeed, unconfirmed report of a child in Knocka having received burns HSE enroute.

For what it's worth, so far, it's very quite tonight, comparatively for Bonna Night.

any knews if thats true?

gimmick wrote: »

I would also like to add, that there was no way a fire brigade was desptached. The person who took your call probably just rolled their eyes thinking "not another bogger".

But on a more serious note on this - its a shame these cannot be actually organised byt he communities, rather than a scattered appraoch which is certainly teh case in Hollyhill/Knocknaheey/Churchfield/Fairhill. At least this way, the Gardai and Fire Brigade have a far better chance of preventing any nonsense.

Passed about 6 seperate ones on that route last night, not of which were particularly impressive.

i was thinkin the same, theyre normally alot bigger

gbee

booboo88 wrote: »

any knews if thats true?

No more reports. No injuries reported. It was probably mixed up with the incident by Spriggs Road.

Lots of reports on Prenderville's show, none support this.

120_Minutes

Cú Giobach wrote: »

If it was a bonfire on the 23rd of June in Cork then it was part of traditional county wide "bonna night" (whatever your personal opinion of the participants), if it was the day before, then it wasn't.


All you basically said in your OP was "I'm not from Cork, WTF is it with these fires?, I saw one and got it stopped". And you're surprised a few people were annoyed. :rolleyes:

Like I said at first I thought it was a housefire, and thought the correct thing to do was call the services. Unaware of the tradition when I realised what it was and confirmed it to the operator, I left her to do her job. If a legitimate organised bonfire was stopped then I apologise, but somehow I don't think I'll have to. If a few scum get their fire put out, then I won't lose any sleep over it.

I hope someone is as quick to react if your house ever goes up in flames.

gbee

120_Minutes wrote: »

Like I said at first I thought it was a housefire,

The brigade had some 120 calls last night. They investigated something like 80 of them and extinguished 20.

The fire chief reckons, that with some fires being reported a few times, they probably got to see them all.

We do know that on the Spriggs Road the FD investigated early in the evening and reported it being supervised ~ that situation changed.

The FD also attended two commercial fires, not thought to be related.

Daegerty

Jaysus will u lads stop complainining and just go outside and enjoy the bonfire. Maybe make one or two of your own instead of having a go at people for having a bit of fun

Stark

I might throw someone's pet dog or cat on one for the laugh. Oh wait, that's Dublin.

Cú Giobach

120_Minutes wrote: »

Like I said at first I thought it was a housefire, and thought the correct thing to do was call the services. Unaware of the tradition when I realised what it was and confirmed it to the operator, I left her to do her job. If a legitimate organised bonfire was stopped then I apologise, but somehow I don't think I'll have to. If a few scum get their fire put out, then I won't lose any sleep over it.

If you had left it at the bit I highlighted that would have been grand, unfortunately the second part shows you to be quite an unpleasant individual, consequently I can quite understand you not losing sleep over people that you obviously consider beneath you.

I hope someone is as quick to react if your house ever goes up in flames.

No house went up in flames, by the way calling in a house fire when there isn't one, can endanger lives if there is a real emergency.

gimmick

120_Minutes wrote: »

Like I said at first I thought it was a housefire, and thought the correct thing to do was call the services. Unaware of the tradition when I realised what it was and confirmed it to the operator, I left her to do her job. If a legitimate organised bonfire was stopped then I apologise, but somehow I don't think I'll have to. If a few scum get their fire put out, then I won't lose any sleep over it.

I hope someone is as quick to react if your house ever goes up in flames.

Such a great citizen.

Cú Giobach

120_Minutes wrote: »

If a few scum get their fire put out, then I won't lose any sleep over it.

Just out of curiosity, why don't you share with us what you observed these people doing in order to have you calling them "scum"?

booboo88

120_Minutes wrote: »

Like I said at first I thought it was a housefire, and thought the correct thing to do was call the services. Unaware of the tradition when I realised what it was and confirmed it to the operator, I left her to do her job. If a legitimate organised bonfire was stopped then I apologise, but somehow I don't think I'll have to. If a few scum get their fire put out, then I won't lose any sleep over it.

I hope someone is as quick to react if your house ever goes up in flames.

You clearly dont get the idea of bonna night. Bon FIRE = fire, duh......
pretty obvious, but in your case, maybe not:rolleyes:

Stark wrote: »

I might throw someone's pet dog or cat on one for the laugh. Oh wait, that's Dublin.

you are sick individual just at even mentioning such a thing, albeit a joke for you maybe, more than likely some sick person probably did throw someones pet into a fire.

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, why don't you share with us what you observed these people doing in order to have you calling them "scum"?

Some people are very quick to judge, not every young person in scum. Bonna night is a tradition, live and let live. And of course op didnt even have the good sense to check IF there was actually a house fire, before calling emergency services.:rolleyes:

Stark

booboo88 wrote: »

you are sick individual just at even mentioning such a thing, albeit a joke for you maybe, more than likely some sick person probably did throw someones pet into a fire.

I wasn't joking. It's a regular occurrence in some areas of Dublin. But it's tradition sure.

I don't see what the huge issue is with the emergency services being called. We had bonfires as a kid and we always had the caveat that the fire brigade would be along to put the thing out if it got out of hand. It's one thing to build a fire in the middle of a remote field, it's another to build one in the middle of a housing estate near people's homes and not expect it to be investigated. Note that in all accounts given here, once the fire was reported to the emergency services, the fire was investigated, not put out indiscriminately. Making sure the emergency services are aware of the areas where bonfires are taking place is the responsible thing to do.

booboo88 wrote: »

And of course op didnt even have the good sense to check IF there was actually a house fire, before calling emergency services.

And why should he have to? The emergency services themselves are better qualified to assess if the fire is a risk to people or not.

booboo88

then sir, you are a sick individual.
maybe someone should throw you into a fire

gbee

Stark wrote: »

I don't see what the huge issue is with the emergency services being called. .

For whatever reason you've reminded me of an incident when I was about 14 with a camera and the brigade came to quench our fire ~ can't remember where that was though.

Anyway as the fire died down the hoseman turned the hose on the crowd scattering us in all directions, it was a bit of fun and the hose was just a mist but I caught it with my camera ~ Flash great shot.

Went home to dev the roll only to find it had not wound on ..........

Stark

booboo88 wrote:

then sir, you are a sick individual.
maybe someone should throw you into a fire

Because I cast aspersions on the salt of the earth children of Finglas and Ballymun? I take it back then. It's all just a bit of fun where nothing untowards ever happens. The illegal fireworks are perfectly safe as well.

booboo88

Stark wrote: »

Because I cast aspersions on the salt of the earth children of Finglas and Ballymun? I take it back then. It's all just a bit of fun where nothing untowards ever happens. The illegal fireworks are perfectly safe as well.

I think you'll find this is the cork city forum, you are generalizing any person that lives in that area, which is wrong for a start. Its a SMALL minority that do it. Not everyone, same with the northside of cork, only a small handful are the ones throwing rocks at buses, but the way you look at it, its probably everyone, am i right?

Dudess

Oh Booboo, would you just acquaint yourself with irony and stop looking for offence where there isn't any intended. Some little sh1tbags do throw animals on bonfires unfortunately - Stark wasn't expressing a fondness for this, just pointing out that it happens. I wouldn't say it's limited to just Dublin though, or to the areas mentioned. But yeah, obviously only a tiny minority does it.

Quiet up in The Glen last night anyway. Has been known to get a bit mad up there on Bonfire Night.

booboo88

Dudess wrote: »

Oh Booboo, would you just acquaint yourself with irony and stop looking for offence where there isn't any intended. Some little sh1tbags do throw animals on bonfires unfortunately - Stark wasn't expressing a fondness for this, just pointing out that it happens. I wouldn't say it's limited to just Dublin though, or to the areas mentioned. But yeah, obviously only a tiny minority does it.

Quiet up in The Glen last night anyway. Has been known to get a bit mad up there on Bonfire Night.

to make light of animal cruelty is expressing a fondness of it in my book.
im not look for offence, nor am i offended, jus making a point.

booboo88

gbee wrote: »

No more reports. No injuries reported. It was probably mixed up with the incident by Spriggs Road.

Lots of reports on Prenderville's show, none support this.

incident on spriggs road? wat happened?

Dudess

booboo88 wrote: »

to make light of animal cruelty is expressing a fondness of it in my book.

Oh ffs. Making a vaguely sarcastic comment regarding animal cruelty (which is actually a criticism of it) = enjoying animal cruelty? That's bollocks and it doesn't matter about your book - you're wrong.

professore

In Ballyvolane we have a bonfire in the same spot every year, in a field some distance from any houses. Everyone from small children to the elderly come out to enjoy it. There is no drinking etc. - of course the usual youth element drink later in the evening but they do that anyway - and with the kneejerk objections to any youth facilities in the area they have little choice as there is nowhere else for them to go.

This year some upstanding citizen decided to call the fire brigade. It was like a scene from Monty Python. They came out and sprayed the fire with water and put most of it out. A guy drove up with a car with tree branches on the roof and proceeded to throw them on the now wet and smoking pile of ashes.

A small patch started up again. The firemen looked a bit sheepish to be honest. One of them came back with a small bucket accompanied by boos from some smaller children. You could tell from the fireman he was embarrassed by the whole thing.

My opinion is that if the council made some sort of ground rules as to what could be burned (e.g. not plastics or tyres) then I don't see the harm in it, in fact it is a great social occasion - and I'm a blow in myself and have never seen this custom anywhere else. So there!

Daegerty

Stark wrote: »

The illegal fireworks are perfectly safe as well.

Whether or not some bureaucrat decided the firework should be legal or not has little to do with how safe it is

54kroc

Dudess wrote: »

Quiet up in The Glen last night anyway. Has been known to get a bit mad up there on Bonfire Night.

That's unusual, I remember a few years back the council came up and took away everything the kids were after collecting for a fire down by the flats, there was uproar even the parents were involved, they threatend to set the flats alight, sure enough when the council left they set fire to the flats.

Dudess

Yeah I remember that - 2004/5 direction I think. It was fecking mad - the amount of fire trucks...

booboo88

so no ones car was set alight?
i thought it was very quiet last night, and where i live theres normal emergency services at every corner:rolleyes:

Show Time

In my teenage years my friends and i use to build up the local bonna which we would light up around seven or eight at night so the smallies could have a watch and a snoop of the fire with their folks. Once they were gone out the gap we use to lash out the two liters of cider and drink away with our fire till the early hours and never once had any trouble.

H8GHOTI

When were Google up on Spriggs Rd? Looks like they've been getting ready for a while.
Google were lucky to get out of there without their car being set alight :pac:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Spriggs+Road,+Cork,+Ireland&hl=en&ll=51.906042,-8.486509&spn=0.004296,0.013078&sll=51.901945,-8.503675&sspn=0.017185,0.052314&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=51.905976,-8.486356&panoid=jIPgHQxYKBNmKYy9hqHD9Q&cbp=12,324.67,,1,8.72

booboo88

Dudess wrote: »

Oh ffs. Making a vaguely sarcastic comment regarding animal cruelty (which is actually a criticism of it) = enjoying animal cruelty? That's bollocks and it doesn't matter about your book - you're wrong.

i suppose its grand to make sarcastic remarks about it, ah sure its only sarcasm:rolleyes:

if you ask me thats whats bollocks

120_Minutes

Well thats my lesson learned, never criticise corks proud tradition of setting rubbish on fire.

ofcork

Dudess wrote: »

Oh Booboo, would you just acquaint yourself with irony and stop looking for offence where there isn't any intended. Some little sh1tbags do throw animals on bonfires unfortunately - Stark wasn't expressing a fondness for this, just pointing out that it happens. I wouldn't say it's limited to just Dublin though, or to the areas mentioned. But yeah, obviously only a tiny minority does it.

Quiet up in The Glen last night anyway. Has been known to get a bit mad up there on Bonfire Night.

Pretty quiet up here alright though the bonfire near the ring road meant alot of cars parked on said road with traffic coming from ballyvolane direction having to drive on the outbound lane.

Show Time

120_Minutes wrote: »

Well thats my lesson learned, never criticise corks proud tradition of setting rubbish on fire.

It is what kept Cork clean for so long. Unlike some parts of the country with old chairs and sofas and other such rubbish on public green spots.

parsi

Poor OP. you've upset the Cork Mafia. The burning of household rubbish (and whatever else you can find) on Bonna Night is a dearly held tradition. The stoning of the fire service is also a dearly held tradition. The placing of the cleanup burden on all residents is also a dearly held tradition especially in low tax areas.

Show Time

parsi wrote: »

Poor OP. you've upset the Cork Mafia. The burning of household rubbish (and whatever else you can find) on Bonna Night is a dearly held tradition. The stoning of the fire service is also a dearly held tradition. The placing of the cleanup burden on all residents is also a dearly held tradition especially in low tax areas.

Oddly enough the stoning of the fire service is something new and all decent Cork people would be disgusted by this habit which has it's roots in Dublin and Limerick.

54kroc

Show Time wrote: »

Oddly enough the stoning of the fire service is something new and all decent Cork people would be disgusted by this habit which has it's roots in Dublin and Limerick.

Stoning of the fire service is not new to Cork, far from it. We've always had a lot of scumbags that have enjoyed doing it.

Show Time

cork45 wrote: »

Stoning of the fire service is not new to Cork, far from it. We've always had a lot of scumbags that have enjoyed doing it.

New as in the last seven or eight years. Even when i was a young fella the scummies would not sink so low. Or i could just be seeing things through rose tinted glasses.

Needler

cork45 wrote: »

Stoning of the fire service is not new to Cork, far from it. We've always had a lot of scumbags that have enjoyed doing it.

Any big reasonably slow moving vehicle is probably a target

Stark

Show Time wrote: »

New as in the last seven or eight years. Even when i was a young fella the scummies would not sink so low. Or i could just be seeing things through rose tinted glasses.

Rose tinted glasses methinks. I remember kids throwing stones at buses and emergency service vehicles when I was a kid.