Farmers and agricultural contractors are being urged to take extreme caution in relation to field fire hazards during this year’s harvest, as a field recently caught fire.
Pictures of the incident were posted on the official Twitter account of Glanbia Agribusiness.
The field reportedly ignited due to a blade in the combine harvester sparking after making contact with a stone.
Take extreme care in relation to fire hazards during #harvest18. This field ignited due to combine blade sparking after contact with stones. Luckily no one hurt due to quick reaction from farmer & local fire brigade. min damage caused to crop. #safetyfirst #drought2018 #farmsafe pic.twitter.com/zlTH69BBot
— Glanbia Agribusiness (@GlanbiaAgri) 10 July 2018
[yes-app]
[/yes-app]
Continuing, the tweet added that no one was hurt as a result of the fire.
Due to the “quick reaction” of the farmer and the local fire brigade, there was “minimum damage” caused to the crop, the tweet concluded.
Fire breaks set up to protect 50ac corn field
In recent weeks, fire breaks had to be set up in Co. Meath to protect a 50ac corn field from the spread of gorse and forest fires, a tweet on the official Twitter account of Meath County Fire and Rescue Service explained.
Both the fire service and Coillte had been battling to prevent the spread of fires in the Frayne Bog near Kildalkey, Co. Meath, for a number of days.
Image source: Meath County Fire and Rescue Service Twitter
Drones had been used to monitor the situation from the air. A helicopter was also drafted in to help battle the blaze – it could drop 400L of water per trip, with a turnaround time for refilling equalling approximately three minutes, according to the fire service.