County Wexford, Ireland - Wexford, PA Connection

Did you know that the Wexford area was originally settled by German and Irish immigrants?  In the early 1800's, Ambrose Schaeffer from Baden-Baden, Germany and Martin Byrne from Wexford, Ireland were key settlers in the area, and did a lot of work to draw missionaries to the area.  The first Catholic Mass was held at the log cabin of Martin Byrne, and Mr. Byrne became the first postmaster in the area.  The local postal region was named Wexford, after Mr. Byrne's place of birth.

Several years ago, local historians and representatives from St. Alphonsus Church established a connection with County Wexford, Ireland.   Marty McKinney, Sr., life member of the fire company, mentioned to Captain Tim Flaherty the idea of establishing a link between the fire services.  Through the Internet, Tim finally got around to finding contact information and after sending an email, Assistant Fire Officer Simon Geraghty replied in agreement of keeping in touch with our fire company.  He sent the pictures included below.

Crew in Front of New Wexford Station

Warehouse Fire In Enniscorthy

Front of New Wexford Station

Demonstration of the New Emergency Tender Appliance

Wexford Station (Headquarters)

Enniscorthy Station

Bunclody Station

New Headquarters Under Construction in Wexford

Gorey Station

New Ross Station

New Class B Fire Appliance

Bunclody Opening

Bunclody Opening

Brigade Formation at Bunclody Opening

Bunclody Fire Appliances

Wexford HQ Construction Progress

According to Mr. Geraghty, there are 116,000 residents in County Wexford.  Due to premier beaches and hotels, the population explodes to over 180,000 in the summer months.  Fire protection is provided through five stations: Wexford (Headquarters), Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross and Bunclody.  The service is made up of 65 paid-part time firefighters, a Chief, two Senior Assistant Chiefs, and two Assistant Chiefs and an Assistant Fire Officer.

A new station was opened in Bunclody this past July, and they also took delivery of a class B fire appliance at the same time (pictured above).  They are also in the process of constructing a new six bay headquarters station in Wexford.