Savannah Fire says they haven’t responded to any fires yet on St. Patrick’s Day

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - As people are still downtown celebrating today, firefighters are ready for any emergencies tonight.

“The pageantry of St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah...“...there’s nothing like it.”

Nothing like this crowd, here to see this view..

“What’s your favorite part? The bagpipes, that’s the main reason I come down here just to hear the bag pipes.”

Hours before while folks were getting their spots in squares to see the parade.

“5 a.m. for the tent. I got here at 5 a.m.”

Stephen Sokolowski says Savannah firefighters were looking around downtown, making sure there were no explosives or threats in the area.

“We look through the whole parade route, we also look on the river, as the boats come through and escort them along the river and make sure that there were no threats that could be there,” said Capt. Sokolowski.

This day is always an exciting time for local people like Christella Snyder who have been coming here for decades.

“I love being at this party and I love all the people. It’s so great to have them here.”

But the more people, the more alert first responders have to be in downtown all the way to the river.

“We boat through, we go down there and make sure no one goes on the river and then we also have a lot of units also dispersed in different areas while foot traffic can go ahead and hamper our emergency vehicles.”

Their watch continues heavily in City Market and River Street, as the night goes on.

He says they don’t usually have to fight fires on the holiday, instead they work closely with Chatham Emergency Services. CES says the majority of their calls have been for people unconscious. And he expects tonight to be a busy one.

“People have a little bit too much fun, we deal with those medical issues sometimes because of that, falls, issues like that. We don’t have too many fire alarm or fires going on.”

He encourages people to remember their safety and the safety of others so everyone can have a....

“Happy St. Patty’s.”

While they had a busy day today, they will not be letting up Saturday as festivities continue through the weekend.

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