Fire service issues appeal after fires on Mt Leinster

CARLOW Fire Service has issued an appeal to people to be vigilant after multiple fires broke out on Mount Leinster over a three-day period last week, drawing firefighters from across the county and beyond to tackle the blazes.

Huge damage has been caused to wildlife, vegetation and the environment by the fires, but thankfully no-one was hurt.

Fire services from Bagenalstown, Tullow, Bunclody and Graignamanagh fought six separate fires over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week and at one point on Wednesday they had to be assisted by two helicopters dropping water directly onto the wildfires. The flames were spreading towards a forest owned by Coillte on the Rathanna side of Knockroe so swift action was needed to prevent the fire from burning the forest, or from putting human life in danger.

“It all took significant resources to get the fires under control”, said Ger Griffin, acting senior assistant chief fire officer with Carlow Fire Service.

“Wednesday was significant in that we collaborated with officers from the National Parks and Wildlife Service as well as Coillte personnel. It was decided to call in two Coillte helicopters for assistance because a property owned by them was under threat. The whole idea was to get water to the fire as quickly as possible. The helicopters dropped water every two minutes directly onto the fire, after which the firemen beat down the gorse. They have to get very close to the fire to do that,” continued Mr Griffin.

Fortunately there was a good local source of water on Eric Osborne’s land in Rathanna so that meant that every two minutes the helicopters could fill their buckets from the pond and return to the hillside. It still took the firefighters – with the assistance of the helicopters – ten hours to put out the fire and they only left the mountain at 9pm on Wednesday night. Over the three days, about 30 firemen worked 180 hours tackling the fires.

“It takes so many resources and it’s also incredibly draining on our staff. It’s very remote there, so it takes a long time to get there and to deploy the firemen and the equipment. They also have to cope with the heat from getting so close to the fire,” continued Mr Griffin.

He refused to say if the fires were started deliberately or not because, as he pointed out, by the time the fire services reached Mount Leinster the fires were already established. However, he did warn people to be extra vigilant if they see any suspicious behaviour there or anywhere else and to be very careful not to litter, drop cigarette buts or use naked flames for picnics.

Mr Griffin appealed to the public to report any signs of fire and not to presume someone else would call it in. He also said that he was “very proud” of all the firefighters, who worked so hard all across Co Carlow in tackling fires during Ireland’s first sunny spell this year.