Killarney drafts in specialist gardaí to help establish cause of blaze

Fire investigators from the Garda Technical Bureau are walking Killarney National Park in an effort to establish if any kind of accelerant, accidental or deliberate, was involved

The three-day fire in  Killarney National Park last weekend saw up to 3,000 hectares of the 10,000-hectare park destroyed. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan

Investigators from the specialist Garda Technical Bureau have been called in to help establish the pattern of the three-day fire in the Killarney National Park which saw up to 3,000 hectares of the 10,000 hectare park destroyed.

The burn pattern in the fire is proving difficult to establish, gardaí say.

Four fire investigators officers from the technical bureau have arrived from Dublin and are now walking the area in an effort to establish cause and pattern.

Garda scenes of crime investigators from Kerry are also involved in the enquiry, Insp Gary Thompson, the officer assigned to lead the Killarney Gardaí inquiry said.

Insp Thompson has stressed the inquiry is fact-finding and is “inter-agency”. Killarney Gardaí are working with two other agencies, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Fire Service.

Copies of aerial photographs are being looked at to establish the fire pattern as well as ground investigation.

The methodology used by the PSNI in the investigation in the Mourne Mountains fire will also be studied.

The inquiry is fact-finding, not a criminal investigation, Insp. Thompson said. He has appealed again to the public to contact him personally at Killarney Gardai with any information.

The information will be treated in the utmost confidence.

“We are very keen to establish what gave rise to this,” Insp Thompson said.

Wind, dry ground, heaps of old timber all helped the fire accelerate, gardaí believe.

Garda are keeping an open mind and are exploring everything. Insp Thompson appealed to people not to rush to any one theory, or “default position” as this would inhibit sharing of information and he said there are several possibilities to be explored in the probe.

Call for extra rangers

Meanwhile, a founder member of the Killarney Nature Conservation Group who was helping at the scene with the volunteer Meitheal group, has called for ranger patrols during the day and at night in spring and early summer and particularly towards the end of dry spells.

Kevin Tarrant said there were peak times for the fires. The fires were never started at the beginning of a dry spell, but invariably towards the end when rain was forecast. This fire like others was started at night.

“You can set your watch to when these fires will start. It is always after a dry spell and before rain comes. It is happening year after year,” Mr Tarrant said.

Nothing to indicate fire was suspicious, says Garda

At the annual joint policing committee meeting this afternoon, in response to questions about pursuing those responsible, Kerry Chief Supertintendent Aileen Foster said so far, there was nothing to indicate the fire was suspicious but enquiries were ongoing.

Killarney Garda Superintendent Flor Murphy said the effort was to establish the key facts as to when, how, and where the fire started.

He confirmed that a team from the Garda Technical Bureau in Dublin, in conjunction with the Kerry Scenes of Crime Unit, were examining a number of locations in the Muckross area of Killarney. 

"As part of the investigation, we are working closely with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Fire Service. Our fact-finding investigation will determine the future course." 

Any criminality, if established, would be pursued, he said.