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Firefighters on the Frontline

Firefighters who experienced some of the worst incidents in the Northern Ireland Troubles share their experiences through personal testimony and remarkable archive.

Until Northern Ireland spiralled into mayhem after the explosive summer of 1969, Northern Ireland鈥檚 firefighters did the same job as any other fire service - days of relative inactivity interspersed with house fires, road crashes and the occasional factory fire.

In the space of a few months, the service went from this typical fire-fighting life to the most extreme experience in Western Europe since World War Two. During the subsequent conflict they responded to many thousands of incidents. Fires caused by incendiaries gutted shops and factories, while bomb attacks on pubs, hotels and police stations brought death and misery on a horrendous scale. It was an intensity of experience rarely encountered outside of a full-scale war zone.

40 minutes

Last on

Wed 20 Nov 2019 23:15

Credits

Role Contributor
Producer David Kilpatrick
Producer Michael Quinn
Executive Producer Paul McGuigan
Executive Producer Justin Binding

Broadcasts

  • Mon 18 Nov 2019 22:45
  • Wed 20 Nov 2019 23:15

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