Council to employ satellite technology to help pinpoint gorse fire starters
Thousands of acres have been devastated by the illegal fires this year, causing huge damage to forestry and wildlife habitats throughout the county.
To date authorities have been unable to find and prosecute those responsible for starting the fires.
Just last week, for example, more than 1,000 acres of forest and scrub-land were destroyed in a 12-hour fire in the Lyrecrompane area, between Castleisland and Listowel, with damage estimated at €500,000.
Fire service staff said it was one of the biggest forest fires they had witnessed in 30 years.
Up to the end of April, the fire service in Kerry had been called to 418 gorse fires – more than double the number of fires for the same period last year – at a cost to Kerry County Council of about €500,000.
Now, in a bid to tackle the problem, the council is to pursue those responsible for the cost of fire brigade attendance at fires by using satellite mapping systems to plot the exact origins and courses of fires.
Using the same technology as satellite navigation for cars, fire personnel will be using a hand-held GPS system which can tap into satellites. That will help them trace the source of fires on land registry maps.
The council will impose a charge on the owners of property, or the beneficial occupiers, to recoup the cost of fire brigade call-outs.
Under the Wildlife Act, it is illegal to burn gorse between March 1 and August 31, but several fires have been reported this month, with serious consequences for birds and other animals which have perished in large numbers.
The Lyrecrompane fire was fought by fire tenders from Castleisland, Abbeyfeale, Tralee, Killarney and Ballybunion.
An estimated 500 hundreds of mature forest and a young, 12-acre plantation owned by Coillte were destroyed.
