Long Wheel-Base Landrover

The first motorised fire engine, a Landrover, was delivered to Brendan McNulty's house in 1969. He said that Barney Kelly, a mechanic with Donegal County Council, arrived at his house with the landrover and said "Here you are, take that with you". Brendan replied, "I'll take it over to the 'Green Rooster' but I'm not thinking of driving it". Everyone in the fire service was delighted with the landrover. Brendan said, "Man, we thought we were on the pig's back and there was a siren out on the front of her". Brendan was appointed driver in 1970 and continued to drive for four years.

From 1972, the need for a more conventional fire engine arose, due to the upgrading of equipment. Thus the 'Green Goddess' was acquired. The 'Green Goddess', so named because of its colour, was painted red by members of the local brigade. Before the present fire station was built in 1973, these larger fire engines were housed in the showroom at Dunnion's garage, Donegal Road.

Before the advent of the bleeper system, if there was a fire in the area, the firemen had to be contacted by whatever means possible. The local telephone exchange at Ballybofey P.O. would have taken the call and relayed it to Mrs Margaret McNulty (Brendan's wife), at the same time phoning Andrew Gallagher, Jim Lafferty and any of the firemen who had phones. Seamus Neagle paid tribute to Paddy Hannigan and Clare Hynes who were switchboard operators during that time.

Seamus and Brendan attended many fires - mostly chimney, haybarn and gorse fires. Brendan recalled a gorse fire in Eagaltebane, up at the border, where shots were fired. He said "It was at the start of the troubles in Northern Ireland. I was driving and when we got there, the patrol car was there as well. We were checking out the fire when suddenly we heard a shot. We didn't know what to do, we weren't used to that carry on. Sergeant McBride, who was in the patrol car, said that the best thing to do was to move out of there. There was a second shot and that convinced us to move. We put out all the lights on the engine and reversed down the road in the dark".

Current Station Officer, Patsy Patton

The call-out system bleepers and radio equipment enabled the Station Officers and Sub-station Officers to alert firemen from their own homes, thus saving valuable time. The average turnout now is 4 minutes.

The eighties saw the introduction of more modern equipment: a new Bedford H.C.B. Angus fire engine, an increase in the number of breathing apparatus from two to four sets, and new ladders and hoses.

One of the present day crew said "On the delivery of the new fire tender to Stranorlar and Ballybofey Fire Brigade there was a great boost in morale among the men".

As road traffic increased, so did the incidence of road accidents. This has become especially evident in the Ballybofey and Stranorlar area, as both towns are on the national primary route, which is the main artery for north Donegal and the city of Derry, through to the west of Ireland.

As traffic flow through the Twin Towns increased, so did the number of road traffic accidents. Because of the nature and seriousness of most road accidents attended by the Stranorlar and Ballybofey Fire Brigade in the late 1980's, it was soon realised that there was a need to obtain more sophisticated equipment, to deal with the precarious situations that firemen encountered.

In 1988, the Stranorlar and Ballybofey Fire Brigade took delivery of Amkus Crash Rescue Hydraulic Equipment. This equipment was to prove invaluable...it has been used at many R.T.A.'s in Barnesmore Gap and the main Letterkenny and Lifford roads. A fireman said that on the way to a fire all the firemen on board would talk together, but that on the way to an accident, all was quiet.