Emergency services spent more than 16 hours bringing an “enormous gorse fire” on the border of counties Carlow and Wexford under control over the weekend.
Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service said that the blaze in the Slieve Bawn area of Mount Leinster was “one of the most challenging fires” it has dealt with in many years.
Bagenalstown, Bunclody and Graiguenamanagh fire brigades, as well as An Garda Síochána and staff from Coillte, joined forces to protect lives, property and forestry in the area.
The blaze, which started around 9:00p.m on Saturday (March 26), was among multiple fires in the area that had to be extinguished by emergency crews since last Wednesday (March 23).
Neal O’Grady, fire officer with Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service, told Agriland that a ‘flame front’ of over 1km in length was seen travelling across Slieve Bawn on Saturday night.
“This is hugely dangerous to people, property, forestry, wildlife, and the environment. But it also ties up crews who should be available for accidental emergencies.
“We want to protect the community and we will go out and do our very best to manage and extinguish these fires, but if a fire is deliberately started it’s wasteful and it’s dangerous for everyone,” he said.
O’Grady said that he could not determine the cause of the blaze but added he “couldn’t find any evidence that it was accidental”.
The fire service believed that the blaze was under control until the wind direction changed on Sunday morning. As a result, Coillte tasked a helicopter with a water bucket to the scene to help extinguish the fire.
Members of the public were asked to stay away from Mount Leinster yesterday (Sunday, March 27) due to the heavy smoke in the area.
O’Grady said that it took 16 hours and 25 minutes for the enormous fire to be extinguished.
“It was a very challenging operation overall. Luckily, nobody was hurt and there wasn’t a whole lot of private property damaged. But there was an impact on public property, wildlife and the environment,” he said.
In general, O’Grady outlined that it is illegal to burn vegetation between March 1 and August 31. He also warned members of the public to take precautions when using the uplands and to be aware of fire risks such as barbeques and discarded glass bottles.
On Friday (March 25), the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued a ‘condition orange’ warning for fire, which remains in place until midday today (Monday, March 28).
A high fire risk is deemed to exist in all areas where hazardous fuels such as dead grasses, and shrub fuels such as heather and gorse, exist.