In 1860, a blaze in the Kildare Street Club led to the death of three workers and the destruction of an institution. Together with other fires of the era, this provided the imperative for a municipal fire service. While Captain James Robert Ingram’s name is associated with the ‘Whiskey Fire’ of 1875, there were many other significant fires, including the destruction of Dublin’s Theatre Royal. This all occurred in a time when a new scientific approach to firefighting was taking shape, thanks to the pioneering writing of James Braidwood, influenced by the Great Fire of Edinburgh. This episode explores the emergence of modern firefighting, and how Edinburgh and London paved the way for what followed in Dublin.

Las Fallon is the author of The Great Liberties Whiskey Fire (2025) available from Chapters Bookshop and online from Kenny’s at: https://www.kennys.ie/shop/the-great-liberties-whiskey-fire-fallon-las-9781916742673-1