Families on alert as raging fires continue

Frightened families remain on alert as hill fires rage in West Cork and Kerry.

Gardaí have warned that the full rigours of the law will be applied to anybody maliciously setting fire to scrub land and gorse.

Landowners in both counties traditionally set fire to thousands of acres of gorse and heather to encourage grass regrowth.

Despite a deadline of Mar 1 deadline having passed, a number of residential properties have been put at risk in recent days as gorse and hill fires continue.

Cormac Daly, the West Cork area’s chief fire officer, said some outbreaks were now out of control and presented a danger to lives. “It gets serious when a fire starts coming down a hill towards inhabited areas. It can be very frightening at night-time when people see a wall of flames coming towards them,” he said.

Fire-fighting crews from Bantry and Castletownbere had been particularly busy in recent days, he said.

A recent spate of fires have occurred in the region, some of which got out of control and threatened properties, particularly in the Glengarriff and Adrigole area. Some holiday homes had been put at risk and, in one case, fire threatened a caravan park in Glengarriff and the nearby woods.

It is illegal to burn scrub land between Mar 1 and Aug 31. The dry spell towards the end of February was thought to have prompted a noticeable rise in the number of fires lit.

However, gardaí say they are investigating the possibility that some of the fires were lit maliciously.

Bantry-based Inspector Joe O’Connor said a number of agencies were working with farmers to ensure fires were lit only when legally allowed and that they didn’t get out of control.

However, he warned any kind of land burning, from now until the end of August, was illegal and would be dealt with severely.

“We want to work with farmers but we need to protect lives and property,” Insp O’Connor said.

Adrigole-based Cllr Danny Crowley (FF) maintained that those who lit some of the fires had been reckless.

“People will have to be much more careful. Up to recently the ground was dry and there were high winds. The fires have been going on the Beara Peninsula for more than 10 days,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Government may re-examine a policy on gorse and scrub land burning. Jimmy Deenihan, the heritage minister, said there was a possibility that more flexible dates could be applied.

He said a review was under way with the potential for setting the relevant dates by statutory instrument, rather than in primary legislation as is the current case.