DEVASTATING WILDFIRES IN rural areas a year ago have led to the launch of an awareness campaign on the dangers posed by illegal forest, bog and gorse fires.

Earlier this month, Shane McEntee TD, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for forestry, reminded landowners that it is illegal to burn vegetation on land at this time of year.

The Minister said that people in South Kerry and other areas of the south west have already reported instances of illegal scrub burning, in some cases after dark. He said that landowners found guilty of illegal burning will be subject to fines or possible imprisonment, and that guilty parties may also risk the loss of their Single Farm Payment.

Adrian Kelly, Chief Fire Officer in Clare and member of the Irish Chief Fire Officers’ Association in Ireland, told TheJournal.ie that the cut-off date for burning is 29 February due to the fact the nesting season starts in early March.

However, some people ignore that date and set fire to a bog or field “and hope it stops at other end”. Kelly said that “it generally doesn’t stop at the other end” and people are lighting fires and are not controlling them. They are not monitoring the wind’s direction or other factors and this can lead to out-of-control wildfires, which is in turn exacerbated by dry weather.

In late April and early May 2011 wildfires destroyed thousands of hectares of land across much of the country.

Kelly said that some landowners are “getting to be more and more reasonable about things”, but there are also people who “don’t care anyway” and they are being asked to show some common sense. “The highest risk period occurs between March and June, when ground vegetation is dead and dry following the winter period. The current warm spell of weather will do little to reduce this risk,” explained Kelly.

Members of the public are being asked to contact their local gardaí if they see people acting suspiciously or notice a fire in their area.

Last year, an estimated 16,000 hectares were destroyed nationally last year resulting in €20 million in costs and damages.

Commenting on the issue of backyard and uncontrolled burning, Kelly said:

Uncontrolled burning can result in loss of life as well as damage to property.  It is often mistakenly seen as a cheap method of managing waste and it is presumed not to be harmful to the environment, but nothing could be further from the truth. Controlled burning should follow the procedure of ensuring that any burning is pre-planned and takes place in a controlled fashion. The Fire Service must also be notified through the 999/112 system prior to any burning taking place.

While landowners are responsible for the majority of burning, there are also incidents where people are driving cars into forests and setting fire to them, or dumping items and setting fire to them.

“The resources invested in trying to deal with these fires takes from resources you might need for somewhere else,” said Kelly. “The officers may need to cut you out of a car or deal with a housefire.”

Advice on burning land includes:

• Landowners burning gorse, scrub, or vegetation must inform the Fire Service at least one day in advance on 999 or 112 providing details of the location, time and duration of burning.
• In addition, landowners burning within one mile of woodland must notify the local Garda Station and woodland owner in writing at least seven days in advance.
• Where burning is to take place within a special area of conservation or natural heritage area, written consent must be sought in advance from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
• It is illegal to burn household or commercial/industrial waste, household green waste (eg hedging), electric cables for the recovery of copper, or to burn waste in bonfires.
• There is a temporary exemption until 1 January 2014 for waste generated by agricultural practices, but efforts must be first made to reduce, reuse, and recycle the waste and burning must only be considered as a final measure.  Waste must be untreated and uncontaminated by other waste.

Read: Chief fire officers say geographical spread of wildfires were ‘unprecedented’>