Public urged to exercise caution following weekend gorse fires

Anton McNulty

THE Mayo Fire Officer has called on the public to exercise caution during the fine weather after a number of gorse fires were reported around the county over the weekend. While no one was injured, there has been considerable damage to wildlife.
Up to eight units of the Mayo Fire Service were called to tackle gorse fires over the weekend with the Achill Fire Service having to deal with a hill fire near the village of Dooega that burned for over two days.
A number of fire units were called to deal with the Achill fire, which started early on Saturday afternoon and quickly spread over a large area towards the village of Dooega. The fire continued to burn through the night with the flames visible across Clew Bay in Clare Island.
However, the local fire service managed to contain the blaze and keep it away from properties before it eventually burnt itself out on Sunday afternoon.

Dry vegetation
Seamus Murphy, the Mayo Fire Officer, said a number of fires were reported in different parts of the county over the weekend. While he could not speculate on how they started, he urged the public to exercise extreme caution to prevent further fires.
“People are out more in this weather, and I would urge the public to exercise caution when they are out. While the ground may be still wet, the vegetation can be very dry and once it is ignited and burns, it can be hard to stop and can rapidly go out of control. There hasn’t been many big fires in the last year, and with the increase in vegetation growth, it all leads to an increased risk,” he explained.
A number of gorse fires also blazed across the border in Connemara, with over 2,000 homes and businesses left without power in parts of south Connemara and the Aran Islands when an ESB sub-station was damaged.
The fires, which raged in the Casla-Ros a Mhíl area of Galway, temporarily forced some people out of their houses. Fire Service units were called from Clifden and Galway to assist the local unit from An Cheathrú Rua in fighting the blaze.