Call for choppers to detect fire starters

Cork County Council has been urged to use helicopters or drones to video offenders responsible for causing devastating wildfires in West Cork which have cost the local authority more than €1m to tackle since 2013.

Councillors demanded a “get tough attitude” on prosecuting offenders after being advised of the financial cost of fighting forest, gorse and bog fires, set deliberately in the region.

Chief fire officer Seamus Coughlan said fire crews in the coastal area responded to 1,124 wildfires from 2013 to the end of April, just past.