Laois Civil Defence provided the fire cover at the Oxegen 2006 music festival at Punchestown, Co Kildare between 7 - 10 July 2006. With more than 70,000 attendees, this is one of the largest music festivals in Europe, and the fact that most of the visitors camp at the event for the weekend meant 24 hour fire appliance cover was required.

Laois Civil Defence liased with the promoters, MCD, and event safety consultants, Michael Slattery Associates, to establish the required level of cover. This was agreed at a Class B water tender and fast response 4x4 firefighing vehicle with crews. A two-shift system was in place, with 7 firefighters and control staff available at all times, with backup available from the off duty crew if necessary.

Command and control was provided from the Laois Civil Defence OSU, with an additional 4x4 vehicle available for crew transport and campsite inspection with the event safety consultants.

Tents and a caravan formed the accomodation for the crews over the course of the weekend.

Fortunately there were no serious fires over the weekend, small campfires etc in the campsite were the responsibility of the campsite security teams, though the AFS crew was called upon to extinguish a number of tents set alight by departing visitors on the Monday morning after the festival, the high pressure pump carried by the fast response 4x4 proved very effective at this task. The water tender acted as a mobile water reservoir for the 4x4.

The crew was also called out at around 5am on the Monday morning to assist with the rescue of a security man who had suffered an asthma attack from his observation tower in the campsite. This was carried out using lines and ladders from the fire appliance.

AFS Base - Oxegen 2006

Aerial View - Oxegen 2006

Security Team Dealing with Tent Fire - Oxegen 2006