It’s a great night for kids, with fireworks, ghosts, ghouls and sweets galore – but this Halloween, Dublin Fire Brigade had its the highest number of callouts in 15 years.

A total of 1,620 calls were dealt with, including 669 ambulance calls and 366 Leinster regional fire calls.

Up to 470 of the 585 calls received by Dublin Fire Brigade were directly related to Halloween.

Chief Fire Officer Greg O’Dwyer described the call volume as ‘extremely high’ but said there were no reports of firework- related injuries.

Many calls were in relation to house fires or cars being set ablaze, as well as anti-social behaviour and a number of serious road accidents.

Mr O’Dwyer said that in some areas of the city, stolen cars and debris were used to block off and barricade roads to stop fire trucks getting through.

He said a vacant house in northwest Dublin was set on fire four times and that the Fire Brigade rescued three pets from a house fire in central Dublin.

Luckily, there were no injuries reported by members of the fire crews over Saturday night.

Mr O’Dwyer thanked An Garda Síochána for cooperating with the fire service, adding that local authorities helped matters by running major events.

He said: ‘We worked closely with gardaí in certain areas.’

A firefighter was injured dealing with anti-social behaviour while carrying out his duties in Kildare on Friday night. A number of stones, rocks and other projectiles were thrown at the fire crew and a fire appliance while they were dealing with an anti-social incident in Co. Kildare.

The incident resulted in an injury ‘to one of our staff and a smashed window’, Kildare County Council said in an online post. The damage to the fire appliance has resulted in it being taken out of service due to it needing repairs.

The council said this ‘is not just damage to a fire engine’, adding: ‘This is an attack on the very ­people who are there to protect our communities’.

The statement continued: ‘Our firefighters respond to emergency calls to protect lives, homes and property within the communities of Co. Kildare and should never have to fear for their own safety while doing so. When a fire appliance is attacked, crews may be forced to withdraw from an incident to protect themselves. We ask communities to consider that the next emergency call could be to your home, your family or someone you love.’

Speaking on KFM, Niall O’Riordan, chief fire officer at Kildare Fire Service, admitted that firefighters have been used as ‘target practice’ in recent times, with stones being thrown on some occasions towards themselves and fire engines.

He added: ‘It’s become almost a tradition to target fire officers with stones, so please bear in mind that these people are just doing their jobs and have families to go home to.’

Waterford Fire Service said it dealt with a total of 19 incidents overnight on Saturday with 14 of these related to bonfires, outdoor fires or Halloween night.

Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service also dealt with a number of incidents overnight. A spokesman said the fire service dealt with the ‘usual’ Halloween-related bonfires, fireworks and incidents of anti-social behaviour. Footage on social media appears to show a group of people shooting fireworks at the community centre in St John Sweeney Park in Carlow town; however, no major damage was reported.

Meanwhile, two Donegal mothers have spoken of their horror after pins were found concealed inside their children’s Halloween treats. Stranorlar mum Savannah McDaid and Philippa Falls, who lives in Ballybofey, made the grim discovery inside the candy cache after trick-or-treating in different areas of the Twin Towns.

Ms McDaid found small metal pins inside four different sweets and Philippa’s son, Joshua, found a dangerous pin embedded in a bar. Ms McDaid’s three-year-old son Arló collected a large amount of goodies when trick-or-treating in Srath Aoibhinn and Ard Greine. Ms McDaid shared a picture of Arló’s treats, which were spread across the sofa, with her own mother.

She told Donegal Daily: ‘Mum had seen photos or videos before and told me to check them.

‘I got a fridge magnet and four of the sweets – two chocolate bars and two chewy bars – stuck to the magnet. I just ripped them open and I was shocked at what I found.’ The small pins appeared to have been carefully pierced through the wrapping paper and into the various bars.

Ms McDaid said: ‘I just thought I would check them and they’ll be grand. I got such a shock when I took the wrappers off.’

She continued: ‘Never in a million years did I think we would find something like this happening here in Donegal.

‘It is just crazy and it ruins the fun for the kids. I’ve had to chuck most of the stuff in the bin. Some of the stuff was inside wee bags and they’re all fine. The scary thing is that one of the pins was inside a wee Milky Way bar and you’d give that to younger kids because it’s soft inside.’

Separately, in the North, some fire crews had fireworks thrown at them. Between 6pm on Saturday and 1am yesterday, Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service emergency crews responded to 89 incidents.

Several of these were Halloween-related, including 23 involving bonfires, the service reported. In six incidents, fireworks were intentionally directed at attending fire crews but fortunately no damage or injuries resulted, it said.

Additional reporting by Chris McNulty