Forestry destroyed, but several homes saved in worst gorse fires for years

Hundreds of acres of forestry were destroyed but several homes were saved during the worst gorse fires seen in Co Clare for years.

At one point on Wednesday night, not a single firefighter or appliance from Co Clare’s seven fire stations was available to respond to a call.

Crews from four stations spent almost 10 hours battling gorse and forestry blazes close to homes on Mt Callan in the west of the county.

The fires raged along both sides of a 4km stretch of the Ennis to Miltown Malbay R474 road, which gardaí eventually had to close for safety reasons.

Fire personnel managed to save several properties, including one home which was completely surrounded by fire at one point.

One farmer’s shed was engulfed in flames. However, fire crews and locals battled to prevent the blaze spreading to other buildings. After this had been accomplished, a real fight began to stop the fire spreading to forestry.

Despite the best efforts of firefighters and locals, hundreds of acres of forest were lost in the fires.

Landowner Michael Sexton, one of many locals who assisted fire crews, said: “It was a fierce and dangerous fire. It was along both sides of the road and you could feel the heat in the car as you passed. I stopped as many cars as I could and told them not to drive through.

“The smoke was so thick you could hardly get through it to reach the fires. The fire brigade were busy keeping the fires from some homes. It was really frightening.”

Locals are being urged to establish an emergency response group to deal with such fires in the future.

Local councillor Michael Hillary said: “There are thousands of acres of forestry up on Mt Callan and several homes as well so it would probably be a good idea for locals to establish a group who can be contacted by text to respond and fight fires if it happens again. It takes years and years for forestry to mature, but as we’ve seen it can be wiped out in just a few hours.”

Senior assistant chief fire officer for Co Clare, Angela Naughton, said: “The current dry spell of weather will do little to reduce this risk, although we are expecting some respite by the weekend.”

While the cause of Wednesday night’s fires is still being investigated, the fire service has reiterated a warning issued earlier this week about burning waste.

“Uncontrolled burning can result in loss of life as well as damage to property. It is often mistakenly seen as a cheap method of managing waste and it is presumed not to be harmful to the environment, but nothing could be further from the truth,” said Ms Naughton.

Fire personnel from Gort in Co Galway had to be called in to deal with a road traffic collision in Ennis at the height of Wednesday’s fires.

Gardaí are investigating the cause of the outbreak.