Gardaí hunt ‘irresponsible’ gorse-fire starters

DESTROYED The Brennan family home was gutted by a gorse fire at Kiltimagh on Friday evening. Pic: Keith Heneghan/Phocus

Edwin McGreal

After a weekend in which a gorse fire destroyed a family home in Kiltimagh, gardaí have warned of the dangers in deliberately starting such fires.
An investigation is ongoing into the origins of the fire which took hold in east Mayo on Friday and Saturday but a local garda chief acknowledged that many gorse fires which occur in the county are started deliberately.
“The burning of a family home at the weekend is what can happen when you start a gorse fire,” Castlebar-based Superintendent Joe McKenna told The Mayo News.
It is widely suspected that many gorse fires in the county are started by farmers with a view to creating greater grass growth for livestock a couple of weeks after the fire. However, Supt McKenna described such views as ‘irresponsible’.
“People may think starting gorse fires allows the grass to grow but there are serious consequences as we saw in Kiltimagh where a family home was destroyed.
“A lot of these fires start in the middle of nowhere and it’s clear to see that it’s not an accident from someone out having a picnic.
“Gorse fires take fire crews away from other duties and we would appeal to people to realise the consequences of starting gorse fires. People who think they will not do any damage to property ought to look at what happened to the home in Kiltimagh which was destroyed. Wind directions can change and bring a lot of properties into danger,” Supt McKenna said.

Achill fire
A large gorse fire raged in hills above Dooega on Achill Island last March which only died down close to 24 hours later. No homes were affected but there were fears that a change in direction of the wind could put homes at risk.
Locals in the village suspected that fire was started deliberately as there has been a number of similar fires in the area in recent years and Supt McKenna said that it is his experience that gorse fires are rarely started accidentally.
“We would appeal to people to recognise the huge dangers behind such actions,” he said.
Keith Bourke, a fireman in Castlebar, tweeted a picture of the house fire in Kiltimagh on Friday and said: ‘Casualty of a gorse fire. When you light it remember the consequences. Lives ruined’.