Wildfire sweeps through Westport hills

OUT OF CONTROL Locals and fire crews fight to control the fires at Prospect last week. Picture courtesy of Iris Galloway.

Wildfire sweeps through Westport hills


Ciara Moynihan
ciaramoynihan@mayonews.ie

The skies turned grey yet again on Tuesday afternoon last, not yet with much-needed rain clouds, but with the acrid smoke of burning bush. A fire that had started in Loughloon had quickly blazed and travelled over the hills to Prospect south of Westport, threatening the homes of Bill and Iris Galloway and their Dutch neighbour, Hemmo Hemmes.
An exhausted Iris and Bill Galloway (pictured, right) spoke to The Mayo News last Wednesday lunchtime, just hours after their ordeal had finally ended.
They had been working in their garden the previous day, they said, when they received a phone call at around 3pm from a neighbour who had seen smoke over their way.
“We hadn’t seen anything,” Ms Galloway said. She walked to the top of a hill where she could see ‘all the way down the land to Loughloon’. “I could see smoke coming from there,” she said. “It was a huge fire, and I could see that it had also spread up the hill to the west of us. The whole valley was on fire.”
After calling the Fire Service, Ms Galloway rang her neighbours, as she could see the blaze was travelling close to where they had sheep. “They got some more neighbours together and they managed to beat down that blaze with shovels. Then they came straight down to us, and some more neighbours and friends arrived to help.
“I walked back up the hill and I saw that the blaze had jumped the fence onto Hemmo’s land and was rapidly moving towards our house.”

‘Terrified’
The Fire Service arrived soon after. By the time a hose was hauled to the top of the Galloways’ steep drive – less than an half an hour after the fire was first spotted – it was within 300 feet of the Galloways’ home. “The flames were really high … It was approaching from both sides, so we were just hemmed in by this blaze,” Ms Galloway recalled.
“The whole neighbourhood was terrified, because you just don’t know what direction the fire’s going to take,” she said.
“A shift in the wind could have imperilled livestock, and livestock were moved in great numbers to protect them,” Mr Galloway added.

Evacuated
The couple were then evacuated from their home. “After moving the gas bottles away from the house, we just had to throw a bunch of stuff in the car and take off,” Ms Galloway explained. “After a very, very long fight they brought the fire under control, so it wasn’t getting any closer to our house … that was maybe around 7pm.”
However, just as the weary Galloways sat down for food and ‘much needed water’, the phone rang again. The fire had re-ignited. Neighbours and the Fire Service were called in again.
The situation soon became more complicated, as resources were now stretched by another, separate fire that had broken out in Loughloon, this time in a forestry plantation. Luckily, the forestry owner had built strong fire breaks, which Mr Galloway said protected the forestry ‘for the most part’ and ‘certainly protected all the houses in Cloona’.

Reignited
The fire near the Galloways was eventually damped down at around midnight. At 1.15am all seemed well, so Iris went to bed, but Bill, who was ‘too wired from all the fire fighting’, stayed up. An hour later he went out to look again, only to see the fire had flared up yet again, and this time it was much bigger.
The Galloways rang the Fire Service again, but they were still over in Loughloon, still fighting the forestry blaze. “All of the neighbours who had been out earlier got out of their beds and came up with their shovels,” said Iris, emotional at the memory. “Amazing neighbours.”
At around 3am, two fire engines and a large crew of fire fighters were deployed at the blaze. The Galloways were evacuated once again, as was Mr Hemmes (pictured, right). “We got all our stuff into the car, got our cat in the car, got Hemmo’s dog and cat in the car, and drove away … again.
“Eventually they seemed to get it under control, which was amazing – I mean, it was wild. It was huge,” Ms Galloway said.
A fire crew stayed until about 6.30am. “Nine of them then came down off the hill to say it was under control. And so far, it has been … There’s not much left to burn, in fairness,” Mr Galloway said.

Gratitude
Fire crews from Westport, Ballinrobe and Castlebar were deployed at the Loughloon and Prospect fires. The Galloways and Mr Hemmes are extremely grateful to everyone who helped. “We would not have a house today if it was not for our neighbours and the Fire Service,” Iris said. “Superb, wonderful people, all of them,” Bill added.
“The fire crews fought hard and long, but they told us that they would not have been able to save our houses if it had not been for the unstinting help of our courageous neighbours in Prospect and Loughloon.
“The fire re-ignited itself several times, and each time our neighbors selflessly came to help us fight the blaze, at times hauling themselves out of bed to climb the steep mountain behind us, to struggle through very rough terrain in the dark, risking life and limb.
“To everyone that came to our aid, all three of us would like to extend an enormous thanks. We are eternally grateful for your boundless kindness towards us.”
A Garda investigation into the start of the blaze is ongoing.

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