Donegall Road/Broadway bonfire ablaze 16 hours early

There was disappointment and a hint of anger in the voices of the group of teenagers who were the first to arrive at the Donegall Road/Broadway bonfire this morning. Days of effort destroyed. (link to video)

Sixteen hours early, someone – and fingers were pointing at another community – had lit the unguarded bonfire. The blaze was well underway when the fire truck arrived, briefly pausing before driving off.

Donegall Road bonfire

What the pictures can’t depict is the wall of heat that hits you – even at that distance – and the stench (most likely of tyres).

Donegall Road bonfire

The Monarch Street residents will have a quieter than expected Eleventh Night.

Update – Since the Monarch Street bonfire was part of the Belfast City Council management programme – which provides grant assistance in return for socially and environmentally responsible bonfires (ie, no tyres, no burning flags etc) – the council are sending up one of their beacons to this site for this evening. They also build a replacement bonfire to go along with the beacon – pictures over on Alan in Belfast.

Update – Spanish readers can read a translation of this post over at
El norte de IrlandaNuevos incidentes de escasa relevancia en Belfast

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.