€1 million damage as fires rage through forestry plantations

FIRES which raged through forest plantations over the holiday weekend have caused more than €1m in damage, an expert said yesterday.

State-run and independent forestry companies will today begin to assess the full damage from fires which ravaged wildlife, bog land and forestry in several counties.

Residential properties in Wicklow, Kerry and Offaly were also at risk from some of the weekend blazes.

Kerry County Council member Brendan Cronin said a massive gorse fire near Killarney was a terrifying ordeal for many families on Sunday.

He said people feared for their safety as fire swept through more than 3,000 acres of land in the Gattabawn area, close to Gneeveguilla.

The Independent councillor, whose home was three miles from the raging inferno, said: “There’s no such thing as a safe fire. All it takes is a change in the wind and homes could be affected.”

During an exhausting 12-hour ordeal for firefighters, almost 40 officers from six units in Tralee, Castleisland and Killarney fought 30ft-high flames. The gorse fire destroyed more than 400 acres of forestry, with a potential market value of several hundred thousand euro.

Kerry’s assistant chief fire officer, Donal Guerin, said it was one of the worst gorse fires in living memory: “There was also extensive damage to wildlife and its habitat. It was too dangerous to go in and fight the fire so we had to wait until it came to us.”

State agency Coillte said the spate of fires was the worst on record for springtime.

Holiday homes in the Wicklow mountains were also threatened during a series of outbreaks. Several hundred acres of gorse and scrub land were scorched as Dublin and Wicklow fire brigades, backed by civil defence, forest rangers and a helicopter company battled to safeguard plantations at Kippure, Athdown and Ballylow.

Gardaí said reports pointed to the series of fires being accidental.

However, a Dúchas regional manager, Paddy O'Sullivan, warned yesterday it was illegal to start gorse fires: “We're now in the prohibited period, from March 1 onwards and it's a crime to burn gorse and scrub.”

Dublin fire service said valuable brigade resources were used in tackling gorse fires. “Fires in forests and remote scrub land pose a threat to firefighters,” said a spokesperson.

April and May are traditionally a high-risk period, Teagasc said, with 80% of all fires caused by people.

The Department of Marine, with responsibility for natural resources, urged the public to exercise extreme caution and vigilance in order to prevent forest fires. Meanwhile, firemen remain on alert in the Midlands where the six-week dry spell caused extensive damage to Bord na Mona peat land near Tullamore.