Forest fire causes €200,000 damage
A FOREST fire that occurred between Adamstown and Camross at the weekend caused an estimated €200,000 worth of damage according to a senior figure within Coillte.
The blaze broke out on Friday afternoon and is believed to have been started by someone setting fire to illegally dumped rubbish close by.
Coillte’s Forestry Manager for the area, Liam Stafford, said around 15 hectares of land was affected and while he hasn’t yet fully calculated the cost he said it will ‘easily be in the region of €200,000’.
‘It started on Friday and then kicked off again on Saturday and I ordered the helicopter in at around 1.30 pm,’ he said.
The helicopter, which is specifically contracted to Coillte to deal with such occurrences, had to come from Galway but was already on a call out to an incident in Down. It had to return to Galway to refuel and arrived in Adamstown at 5.30 pm when it immediately set about assisting the fire crews on the ground delivering 400 litres of water per load onto the smouldering earth. The helicopter utilised a nearby disused lake to get water.
‘The re-planting will cost around €2,500 her hectare,’ said Mr Stafford, however, he added that the when the cost of the trees destroyed in the blaze is factored in the overall cost of the fire could run in excess of €200,000.
He was quick to praise the work of the fire crews from New Ross and Wexford who attended the scene and said that but for their actions the damage could have been even more costly.
‘They stopped the fire from spreading into the forestry on the other side of the forest lane and there is over 30 hectares there so if that had gone up the cost would have been in the region of €500,000,’ he said.
Mr Stafford said it will be at least two years before the land affected will be replanted and he added it will be a major job due to the rough terrain.
‘I have been at a few fires over the years but this was the biggest I’ve ever seen,’ he said.
When asked what caused the fire he said it appeared that rubbish dumped nearby was set alight.
The County Wexford Chief Fire Officer, Paul L’Estrange said the initial call came in at 3.56 pm on Friday and the fire crews were at the scene by 4.21 p.m.
‘There were two appliances and a jeep from New Ross at the scene,’ he said.
‘A unit from Wexford was also called in and the scene was closed down at 8.19 am [on Saturday].’
However, the New Ross crew was also called to the scene of a road traffic accident in Campile at 00.38 am on Saturday following which, at around 12.50 pm, they were called back to the fire scene in Adamstown at the request of Coillte.
The area was finally declared safe on Saturday afternoon.