Catastrophe avoided as neighbours put out blaze
A FARMER in the Mayglass area is appealing to people to be careful with fire and dried foliage following what could have been a catastrophic incident on the railway line just a few yards from his land.
Anthony Browne, who has farm land and forestry along the disused railway line between Mayglass and Bridgetown, found himself playing fireman on Thursday morning last when his neighbour called him seeking help to extinguish a fire just alongside the track.
‘My neighbour was out checking fields when he spotted the smoke and found the fire on the train tracks. He tried to put it out himself with water but wasn’t able to so he rang around to the neighbours and got hold of me. Together we managed to put out the fire.’
Anthony believes that a disaster had been averted, pointing out that only for his neighbour had spotted the smoke, and the weather had been particularly mild with no wind, they could have been looking at serious damage to the area.
He remarked: ‘ There’s about four or five houses in the immediate area, and quite a few farms. Between farm and forestry, you’d probably be looking at about 500 acres that, I think, if the fire had spread would have been destroyed. If it had ran, who knows where it would have stopped? You have the school in Mayglass, a lot of houses in Bridgetown and a lot of land and houses between here and there. I don’t think anyone would have been able to get it under control.’
He said it was not the first time bonfires had been lit along the train tracks but believed that those lighting them meant no harm.
‘We were all young once and I have kids of my own. I’m not trying to be a kill-joy but I’d plead with people to be more careful in future. Everything is so dry at the moment that even the slightest spark could do serious damage. People need to be mindful of the conditions we have and have a bit of respect for our countryside.’
On Thursday night, Anthony brought his dog for a walk along the train track, partly to keep an eye out for any further danger. He said that the track was well used by walkers and it struck him how suitable it would be for a greenway in the future.
Local councillor Frank Staples similarly appealed to people to avoid lighting fires in areas of such dry vegetation, pointing out that a number of farmers could have had land and forestry wiped out.
‘It was lucky that someone spotted it or it could have done incredibly serious damage to the area.’ WHILE THE week leading up to a race meeting would be busy enough at the best of times, there was extra activity in Wexford Racecourse last week as a new well was dug to ensure sufficient water supply to the course.
Racecourse chairman Michael Murphy took the decision last Friday week to sink a second well given the continuing hot, dry conditions, saying that having safe ground for horses and jockeys was their top priority.
As it stood, the course’s well was delivering about 5,000 gallons which would normally suffice but given the conditions, he felt they had to put a back-up in place in case anything went wrong.
‘Wexford has a well and a stream but the extreme weather prompted us to go with a second well as a back-up. At the moment, the going is good to firm, good in places, and we have to be able to maintain that for the safety of the horses and riders.’
Two local contractors were called into action for the job: Nicholas Wall, from Newbawn, sunk the well while Jim Butler from Clonroche installed the pump, which had to be sourced from Germany.
The new well was sunk last Tuesday. Mr Murphy remarked that all of the racecourses around the country would be experiencing difficulties as a result of the weather. The second well, he said, was something that they would always have and would stand to them in the future.
Well digging in progress at Wexford Racecourse.
Wexford retained its reputation as the heart of the sunny south east during the month of June.
All of Met Eireann’s weather stations recorded above average sunshine levels last month with heatwave conditions experienced in many places. But the highest number of sunshine hours was recorded at the weather station in Johnstown Castle, which notched up 280 hours of sun during June, making it the sunniest spot in Ireland.
Nationally, June 2018 was the driest since 1941, an interval of 77 years.