On 5 September 1926, a timber barn being used as a temporary cinema in Dromcollogher caught fire when a candle ignited a reel of Nitrate film stock. Forty-eight people died in this tragedy, always known locally as the Dromcollogher Burning; forty-six of them are buried in a large grave in the grounds of the local church. It remained the worst known fire disaster in Irish history until the Betelgeuse incident in 1979 and the Stardust disaster in 1981, which claimed fifty and forty-eight lives, respectively.