Fire service on high alert as dry weather sparks numerous blazes
FIRE services across South Wicklow have been on high alert for the past week and have dealt with numerous woodland and gorse fires as a result of the current heatwave.
They are appealing to the public to exercise extreme caution and say that many of the fires have been caused by carelessness.
The most significant blaze took place at Coolmelagh Woods at Gibbet near Carnew on the border of Wicklow and Wexford, in the early hours of Monday morning, and was attended by four brigades including Carnew and Tullow. The alarm was raised at around 4 a.m. and along with fire crews, large water tankers were brought in to attempt to quell the flames.
Fire Services outlined that the blaze which started at around 5.20 p.m. on Sunday evening, was brought under control around 11 a.m. on Monday but soon rekindled and required further attention.
The fire service spokesman said that while, sizeable forest areas have been damaged, fire was prevented from spreading to other wooded areas.
‘It was a huge area,’ he said. ‘To add to that, as with any mountainous area, it’s difficult to get at. With the weather we’re having at the moment, it’s just a huge tinderbox out there. It later re-kindled which shows just how difficult it can be to deal with forest fires like this in that weather. Everywhere is so dry at the moment that people really have to be careful. Fire could spread rapidly.’
Closer to Arklow, the local fire service attended a number of smaller fires including a woodland camp fire at Ballyraine on Thursday and at the forestry on the Vale Road on Monday. The camp fire was in such a remote location that officers were deployed on foot with back pack sprayers.
The Arklow unit attended the Vale Road fire at approximately 10 p.m. and managed to contain the flames within a short time.
According to Wicklow Fire Chief, Aidan Dempsey members of the public should exercise extreme caution when it comes to lighting fires and disposing of waste such as barbecue packs and cigarettes during this dry spell.
‘We cannot say with certainty how all fires start but some are from carelessness, discarded cigarette butts, disposable barbecues. Some are malicious, when we encounter more than one fire at the same location,’ he said.
Wicklow Fire Service has issued safety guidelines to the public to try and reduce the number of incidents taking place.
These include, not lighting camp fires any type of outdoor fire, only barbecuing in designated areas and dispose of only when fully extinguished, taking care when disposing of cigarette butts and never throw them out vehicle windows, taking your litter home as it encourages fire starters and cutting back vegetation around rural homes in high risk areas. Any suspicious activity should be reported to Gardaí.
There was also another callout for the Arklow brigade last Thursday when a car with driver and three children went on fire on the M11. The passengers were assisted by a good Samaritan who stopped and helped them exit the vehicle before it went up in flames. Nobody was injured during the incident.