Firefighters battle huge forest blaze over Slieve Bloom range

HUNDREDS of hectares of the Slieve Bloom mountains have been destroyed following a huge forest fire.

The Defence Forces warned the public that sending drones to capture footage of gorse and forest fires is posing a danger for the safety of the Air Corp.

Choppers from both the Air Corp and Coillte flew in across the Laois and Offaly mountain dropping thousands of litres of water in an attempt to put out a fire that spread at rapid speed from Wednesday afternoon.

Around 1,200 litres of water from a nearby lake were dropped each time using the Defence Forces’s Bambi Bucket aerial firefighting system.

Issuing a warning about the drones at fires nationwide, a spokesman said: “These drones present a serious hazard to the safe completion of our operations and can hamper the firefighting efforts.

“If the public see helicopters operating in an area, we urge them not to fly drones as they can put the operations and safety of crews at risk.”

Below them, in dangerous conditions, firefighters attempted to hose down the fire with 75 members of the Defence Forces batting down hundreds of burning and smouldering flames.

In total, around 120 emergency personnel were involved in the operation, which was stood down temporarily at around 9pm last night.

Sources say a red alert, which was due to end today, will continue on for several more days – with the hot weather expected to last for at least another 10 days. The fire is described as “contained but not under control”.

The hectares destroyed could also reach the thousand mark.

Chief executive of Coillte’s forestry division Gerard Murphy described the use of drones by the public in these conditions as “reckless”.

“I know people are always very interested and drawn to the action, but this is an incredibly dangerous environment for anyone to be in and putting drones up is very risky for the helicopter pilots both in the Air Corp and our own helicopter crew that are out there as well,” he said.

“People don’t realise putting up drones and things like that is incredibly reckless.”

Mr Murphy added that the fire would already have caused millions of euro in damage.

Smoke

“We have a range of flora and fauna in that part so there is not only commercial damage but significant environmental damage in these areas, together with the social damage, [and] the smoke that is permeating down here, that also causes problems,” he said.

The blaze took off on Wednesday at around midday, beginning on the Offaly side but had moved to the Laois slopes by yesterday morning. It had also travelled out towards the nearby motorway.

Chief fire officer at Laois fire and rescue Declan Power said that no fire should be lit in any circumstances over the coming days.

“There is a red fire warning in place, so at home, out in the countryside, do not light a fire in those circumstances,” he said. “Don’t light a barbecue – anything that can cause a fire, because if you light a fire at home and the wind picks up the ditches are dry, grass is dry. There is a potential for fire spreading anywhere.”