As they have since the festival's inception in 2004, Laois Civil Defence played at a number of roles at the Electric Picnic 2006 music festival at Stradbally, Co. Laois between 1st - 3rd Setember 2006.

24 fire cover was provided to the festival site over the course of the weekend by crews from Laois Civil Defence AFS, using a Class B water tender and a fast response 4x4 vehicle. The extent of fire cover at this event was agreed with Laois County Fire & Rescue Service and the promoters, Pod Promotions. This built on the provision of fire cover to the car parks by Laois CD at last year's festival.

An additional water tender (kindly on loan for the occasion from Kilkenny AFS) was used to provide an emergency water supply to the site from a lake 300m away, using high volume 90mm hose and portable pumps to boost pressure as necessary. This was set up by Laois AFS the night before the event, and was in place for the duration of the festival, it was needed to supplement the existing water mains on site in the event of a large fire requiring local authority fire service attendance.

In common with previous years, a very "chilled out" atmosphere marked the event, with very few fires or other emergencies for the crews to deal with, other than a couple of campfires which were not permitted in the car parks.

As with other years, Laois Civil Defence personnel also managed onsite traffic, ensuring all visitors were able to get their cars parked with a minimum of delay and hassle, whilst maintaining satisfatory emergency access routes throught the site. In this role we worked closely as ever with the Garda Siochana.

Civil Defence units from other counties provided ambulance and first aid cover to the event along with private contractors, Event Medics. Laois Civil Defence provided an ambulance and crew to assist with this over the course of the event.

AFS crew - Electric Picnic 2006

AFS crew members digging trench for emergency water supply - Electric Picnic '06

AFS crew volleyball game - Electric Picnic '06

Dennis Appliance used for water relay- Electric Picnic '06