Counting the cost of fires on the boglands

THE first bog fires round here started last Monday.

There was a westerly breeze so they spread eastwards, burning heather, furze and a plantation of lodge-pole pine. Then the wind changed direction and strengthened and the wall of flame rushed back westwards at a quite astonishing speed.

This started at about 10am. By lunchtime another bog five kilometres away was on fire and a couple of hours later a third one was burning. This pattern of events makes it seem unlikely that the fires started either naturally or accidentally. Deliberate arson seems much more probable.