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Gorse fire burning on Sliabh Mish Mountain on Tuesday
THE current spate of gorse fires is putting a strain on Kerry Fire Services resources.
Fires are being lit in the illegal period of burning which runs from March 1 to August 31.
One of the reasons fires are started is to burn off dead or older, less productive vegetation from land to create favourable conditions for new growth.
Also, landowners can receive fines for not properly maintaining gorse bushes, so burning them to restrict their growth becomes an option.
Some of the fires are controlled, but it’s the ones that are uncontrolled that are at most risk to people and their property.
The dry weather towards the end of last weekend and into this week sparked the current increase in fires. During the legal period for fires, the very wet conditions of January and February made it difficult for landowners to burn vegetation.
“All the fires can be a danger or a risk depending where they are,” said Assistant Chief Fire Officer with Kerry County Council, Michael Flynn.
“Over the weekend we were dealing with fires that were close to houses around the other side of the mountain, around Inch and Annascaul,” he said.
“What happens is a fire is lit. It might travel two or three miles and then it’s threatening someone’s house or property. Then we’re called out to deal with it. We’ve ten fire stations in the county, over the last weekend they would have all been out at different fires,” he said.
“The fire service is traditionally tasked with road traffic accidents and house fires, but when we have to deal with these uncontrolled fires it’s taking away resources. A lot of these fires are in remote locations. When we’re out there we’re not inside the towns protecting the population centres,” he said.
“We always keep at least one fire engine back in the towns. In the past we’ve found if all our crews are engaged on mountain fires there is a lesser service for the public so we always make sure we have cover in the towns.”
Last year, farming groups pushed for Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphries, to extend the window for burning to March 31, but legislation to do so was not passed through.
“The burning will continue until we get the next batch of rain and we usually see an increase in April which seems to be the busiest month of the year,” said Mr Flynn.
Tralee mountain on fire pic.twitter.com/grwr5D3rZS
— Barbara O' Connor (@barbaraoc05) March 19, 2016
The view from my house right now as the mountain burns pic.twitter.com/zL2hvNl6w9
— Randall Wharton (@randwharton) March 20, 2016
