Fire crews called to seven blazes in Wicklow town
GARDAI are examining the cause of a number of blazes after Wicklow Fire Services responded to seven call-outs over Saturday and Sunday.
While the prolonged spell of hot weather and the dry conditions were considered responsible for fires in Wicklow town and Rathdrum, Gardaí are investigating what caused further blazes to break-out in Rathnew and the Murrough and have not ruled out foul play.
At 10 a.m. on Saturday, a unit from Wicklow Fire Station tackled a fire which broke out along the river walk at the back of the old Veha building in Wicklow town. The flames were soon contained but gardaí suspect the fire was started deliberately.
Gardaí also believe youths were responsible for starting a fire on the railway track at Broomhall, Rathnew.
A spokesperson for Wicklow Fire Services said: ‘We soon had the fire under control but it was very close to some houses in Drumkay and things could have been a lot worse if we hadn’t responded so quickly’.
Later on Saturday, a Wicklow unit was deployed to assist Rathdrum Fire Service in tackling a blaze which was threatening to take hold of forestry at Avondale Forest Park. The flames were coming perilously close to houses at Kingston but the fire services soon pinned the flames back.
While still in Rathdrum, the Wicklow crew received notification of a gorse fire just off the Dunbur Road in Wicklow town.
According to the fire service spokesperson: ‘It was a bad enough fire and there was the potential for it to spread to some nearby houses. It was an awkward location to get to because you had to go through a number of fields. It doesn’t take much for a fire to spread rapidly because the weather is so warm and everything is so dry. Fortunately, we knew exactly where to go and there wasn’t a need to evacuate any properties’.
Firefighters tackled the fire at Dunbur for over two hours and were at almost the same exact location on Sunday after another smaller fire broke out.
On Sunday night, they responded to a fire in Rathnew after rubbish dumped in a field appeared to have been set alight. Over the weekend, a fire also broke out in a storage area at the back of Wire Ropes in Wicklow town and gardaí are investigating whether this fire may have been stared deliberately. Anyone who may have information which could assist the gardai or who may have noticed suspicious behaviour at the times in question should contact Wicklow Garda Station on (0404) 67107.