Deep shock at the deaths of two part-time firefighters extended from the highest levels of the Government to the streets of Bray yesterday, where disbelieving locals hugged each other in the street upon hearing the news.
Tributes were led by President Mary McAleese and by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who offered his commiserations to the families of Brian Murray and Mark O'Shaughnessy.
Mr Murray (46) was a veteran firefighter with a large family who managed to find time for a full-time career as a builder as well as his on-call firefighting job, for which he was required to drop everything at a moment's notice. He was also heavily involved with the union representing Ireland's army of retained or part-time firefighters. Most of these are paid less than €10,000 a year.
Mr O'Shaughnessy (26) had been a member of the Bray station of the Wicklow Fire Service for two years and had made a strong impression as "a good lad and very decent", said Bray priest Fr Finbarr Mullane.
The President extended her sympathies to the family and colleagues of the officers and paid tribute to "their heroism and selflessness in making the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the safety of others".
Mr Ahern said the two men had given their lives for their communities. "We are all too aware of the dangers faced by our emergency services personnel on a daily basis. Today these two brave men paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their communities. I wish to extend my personal sympathies and those of the Government to their families and their colleagues."
Labour leader Éamon Gilmore, who lives near Bray, said that as a former trade union official who represented firefighters, he had "some understanding of the risks they had taken and how deeply affected both the local community and the men's colleagues are by today's tragedy".
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said the men's deaths were additionally heartbreaking, "coming in the same year as the Foynes tragedy when a firefighter and garda were killed in the line of duty".
Union officials who had worked with Mr Murray said he was a devoted firefighter who was prepared to give up any amount of his time to help his colleagues.
"I spoke to firefighters from my own station, Dundalk, and everybody is just devastated," said Brendan McCoy, chairman of the National Retained Firefighters Association.