‘Frigthening’ wild fires at week-end
A NUMBER OF FIRES DESTROYED ACRES OF FORESTRY AND THREATENED HOMES OVER THE BANK HOLIDAY WEEK-END
Wild fires which broke out over the week-end and threatened adjoining houses has been described as frightening by Gardaí.
Emergency services had to deal with a large fire near Curry in South Sligo on Bank Holiday Monday.
Hundreds of acres of forestry has already been damaged.
“These are frightening scenes that nobody wants to see happening,” said a post on the Sligo/Leitrim Garda Facebook page which showed videos from the scene.
A red forest fire warning was been issued by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for the weekend.
In the warning, it was noted that: “Arising from current weather patterns, an extreme forest fire risk is deemed to exist in all areas where hazardous fuels such as dead grasses, heather and gorse exist.”
“If you see any suspicious activity please report it,” said a Garda spokesperson.
Sligo Fire Service have a number of units on site and are currently working tirelessly to keep it under control.
Sligo Fire Service has also cautioned the general public on the hazards of setting outdoor fires in the current warm and breezy conditions.
The fire service had to deal with a number of outbreaks including in West Sligo and South Sligo.
There were also fires in Doorly Park and Cairns wood which had to dealt with by the fire service.
Two units from Sligo Fire Service and one from Mayo attended the gorse fire at Drumbaun near Curry, Sligo.
The fire was brought under control after a number of hours and it was prevented from spreading to houses and forestry.
Smoke from the fire effected the N17 for a time and the area was monitored by Gardai.
Four units of the fire service attended outbreaks of fire in West Sligo since early on Sunday morning.
The fire crews were deployed to protect two houses which were in danger and also sections of the nearby Coillte forestry.
A helicopter also assisted at the scene to assist crews with the operations.
The last significant hill fire in the county occurred at Killery, near Ballintogher in May 2017.