We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Updated 9.15pm
A FIRE AROUND 8km long at one point is still burning out of control in a forest in Co Galway this evening, despite attempts from an Air Corps helicopter to assist in the effort to extinguish it.
The fire is being fought on three separate fronts this evening, as high winds and warm temperatures caused the fire to escalate the situation.
A regional emergency response operation is now in place as Coillte staff, the fire service, army and Air Corps battle to bring it under control.
It is hoped that respite will come in the form of lower temperatures later this evening. It is believed the fire was caused deliberately, and spread onto Coillte property.
In a statement this evening, government ministers have sought to remind land owners that it is an offence to burn any vegetation growing on any land not cultivated between 1 March and 31 August every year.
Minister for Rural Affairs Heather Humphreys said: “Deliberate or uncontrolled fires can destroy habitats, wildlife, farm land and farm structures and can threaten homes and lives.
There is a huge cost to this reckless behaviour not just to physical property, but also the cost of disruption to normal emergency services operations.
Earlier
Coillte has said it is battling fires on its land at 30 locations, mostly in border counties. It follows weeks of dry weather conditions, which have also led to numerous gorse fires across the country.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Gerard Murphy of Coillte said that fires had been burning out of control on three fronts at the Cloosh Valley in Co Galway last evening.
Two have been brought under control overnight, he said.
Firefighters have also managed to reduce the immediate threat to wind turbines in the area, he explained.
However, the fire presenting most concern was still 5km long, said Murphy.
The scale of this fire is frightening. It’s the worst I’ve seen in many years on the job – for thirty years plus.
He added:
I think we’re going to need every support there today.
I believe we will bring it under control, we’re going to hit it very hard this morning.
Gerard Murphy / TwitterMajor #wildfire in Cloosh Valley in Connemara. Thousands of acres of #forests, #peatlands, and #wildlife are now in imminent threat.
— Gerard Murphy (@gerardmurphy50) May 8, 2017
One helicopter was assisting firefighters at the scene yesterday. The Air Corps has also been asked for help, and sent one of its helicopters today.
A number of tankers are also battling the fire, along with ‘beaters’ on the ground. Two fire tenders are protecting the wind turbines.
3,000 hectares were still at risk, Murphy said. Asked how much damage had been caused, in terms of value, he replied:
Millions.
Hugh damage had also been caused to the habitat, he said.
Coillte is also dealing with fires in counties Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo and Cavan.
A combination of dry weather, dry vegetation and windy conditions have led to an increased risk of gorse and forest fires in recent weeks.
According to Met Éireann, the dry spell is set to break over the weekend.
“After an exceptionally dry April, May so far has continued dry and the ground needs at least 50mm of rain to restore moisture levels to normal,” the weather service’s latest outlook said this morning.
The trend is for the dry spell to break down with rain developing across the country over the coming weekend and next week but just some scattered showers are likely for Thursday and Friday.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
These fires are almost never started by arsonists rather there started by farmers trying to burn of the gorse to allow crass and grazing to develop for sheep. Has been going on since I was a child, The comeraghs are set alight every year, were the farmers made pay the bill for putting it out they might think twice.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: not so easy to do when proof is required and there is common access and unfenced land involved. But i like the suggestion by Colm Vambeck (down below) that a proper proactive fire management system be developed. It could be tailored to an area and involve the farmers, coillte, turbine owners, opw and the services.
@Greg Blake: Drone monitoring in dry warm weather?
Farmers burning wildlife habitat, it is an absolute disgrace.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: Farmers are starting these fires to get their payments, it is a total disgrace and the media are not investigating or even mentioning it.
@Séamus Longshanks: 100 green thumbs. Where is our Responsible Minister? No decisive action or solution. Totally inept FG Minister. Sack her Now!
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: There is ash falling from the sky at my house, like very light snow flurries. I live close to the burning area, just south of the wind parks. I was in Galway city earlier, around 7-30 pm, when the wind shifted and enveloped the entire city in smoke, almost blocking out the sun – I seen people with handkerchiefs over their faces it was that bad.
there should be a time period such as 10 years of no grazing after ‘wildfires’ to end this. Of course only matter of time that houses are burnt down, civilians and firefighters seriously injured as a result of this loophole. hard to implement but something should be figured out.
@Pádraig Ó Braonáin: 500k for the tip to get the culprit. Come on u useless Minister Humphreys.
@Pádraig Ó Braonáin: hope you will be safe Pàdraig… scary when your so close
Dry weather does not cause Gorse fires. You need an ignition source. This is provided manually by people illegally causing fires. The cost is enormous. At this stage we need a large aircraft flying around putting these out. Coillte should also be looking at installing cameras.
@gregory: Christ just heard the smoke is so bad its spread as far as Athenry – covered in smoke!!! Athenry tonight smells like the Claddagh!!
Thought they were exaggerating until the camera panned up. Scary stuff. Hoping the firefighters on the ground are staying safe.
Same happened just south of blessington last weekend. Farmers know to most will do it every couple of years to clear grazing lands but even if they are named locally you can’t prove anything so there’s little point in reporting it.
@ChuckE: Offer Reward Money!
@gregory: we had to keep children indoors for hours on and off because of the thick smoke coming off the hills for days. It’s not even a talking point for most but it’s a health issue for young children. If I could prove who it was I would report them
Farmers don’t give a rats arse about the danger and enviromental damage caused by the gorse fires they set. Only care about extra grazing for their beloved subsidised sheep herd.
Sooner or later they’ll be responsible for the death of a firefighter from their community and they’ll go along to the funeral like a good little mourner and then start a new fire the following summer like it’s their god given right.
If every wild fire is put out then all the tinder just builds up even more. There should be controlled burns done every year and this makes fire walls where there is nothing combustible to burn which stops the fires spreading out of control. Below is a few lines out of the Colorado wildfire management Plan.
Manage naturally occurring fires to restore and sustain ecological processes in fire dependent ecosystems.
Create and maintain fuel conditions for low risk of extreme fire behavior and high intensity wildland fires.
For all management areas, management of lightning-caused fires should be considered to restore fire’s natural role in maintaining a healthy, diverse, and resilient ecosystem resistant to natural disturbances.
Permit lightning caused fires to play, as nearly as possible, their natural ecological role
within wilderness.
Firefighter and public safety will be the first priority in all fire management
activities.
@Colm Vambeck: there is absolutely no need for controlled burns or any other type for that matter. We simply do the get the temperatures in Ireland for gorse to be a fire hazard unless farmers or others set the fires on purpose.
@ChuckE: So why are there so many fires at the moment and its only May? and they are out of control.
@Colm Vambeck: Because now is the season where farmers set fires to gorse. Or has there been lightning around recently? Its still not dry enough for cigarettes to start fires. But a can of petrol will.
And if it occurs naturally, why is gorse always involved. There are drier places.
@Colm Vambeck: the people clearing the land on purpose illegally
@Colm Vambeck: I did read a learned source recently who said there was no need for controlled burns in Ireland and that it damaged the landscape unlike in other places like Colorado which you’ve quoted, California, Australia, etc which are all hotter countries where regular fires are essential to regenerate the landscape and indeed some plants and trees have evolved to need fire to germinate their seeds. Can you think of one Irish plant that has evolved in the same manner? I can’t.
Most fires are started deliberately by farmers to clear land for grazing as required for subsidies. The land must be identified as grazable for the subsidies to be paid. Ending the subsidies would end the gorse fires its as simple as that.
Farmers are starting these fires to get their payments, it is a total disgrace and the media are not investigating or even mentioning it.
Farmers are deliberately setting these fires alight, endangering homes, tourism, wildlife and forests for payments from the government. Wildlife and the eco system is being destroyed.
I’m sitting in the Czech Republic in the mountains and I asked have this ever happened here and they laughed. 40 degrees in the summer and it never happened
@Alan Hickey: Correct. Combustion requires 3 things (1) fuel (2) oxygen – air has 20% O2 and (3) an ignition source. No (3) no fire. Setting Gorse fires in Ireland by farmers is a tradition. It is mindless ignorant criminality and some new Minister needs to stop it. The current one is imcompetent and useless just collecting her salary and pension.
Heather (poignant name in this regard) Useless Humphries Forgot to mention the death and destrction wrecked upon wildlife in these areas. But then I forgot she is useless so could easily forget.
Severe penalties required. Coillte need cameras and drone surveillance. And new laws outlawing burning inside 10 km from forests. Jail time for offenders. $ rewards for information on those setting these fires. In other words decisive action. Minister Who? Anyone there in Government taking Any Responsibility? Or just the same old lazy inept politicians taking fat salaries and pensions?
Maintaining fire breaks would help
The song fire starter from the prodigy come mind.
Please stay away from the forest!!
Do not go into the forest!!
Where’s Miss Mannion when you need her?
3000 hectares on fire. 1 helicopter. Is this a joke or what? I’d like to see a €500k reward for information which leads to the culprit in this case. And jail him for a long time. Come on Heather get urr asss in gear…set a fire under this culprit! And buy a decent size plane to put these out in future.
I think the problem of who started it is a complex one. Generally once a fire is going if it’s not heading for other farmers who want it they will light up too. They will always cover each others backs too. Maybe if they just said that all land that was burned is not eligible for payments then we would see no more fires. They only understand that language. When it comes to the environment they are not custodians, they are terrorists.
Are the forestry schemes insured against this sort of thing?
@Watchful Axe: Would hardly think so Act of God etc. – only it isn’t….. bloody disgrace people get away with this level of destruction scott free. We need a New Minister right now who will actually do something instead of sitting on her ass taking a big salary and pension but is totally incompetent.
Can’t see the trees for the fire?
Any criticism of farmers causing costly environmental hazards is usually explained away by their contribution to the economy. Won’t be much left over after this latest disaster in addition to the constant cleanup of our rivers from farm effluent etc. No one will point the finger at those responsible…it’s just the way we do things here.
Cant be saying any thing bad about the farmers most vote for Fine Gael or Fianna Fail why these parties might lose votes going after these wildlife killers .and the destruction of forests . Sure they are the salt of the earth .I blame the good weather ,wind ,high temperature .
More interest in Charles and caramelo than the fires, ministers and TD’s useless, handling of the situation a joke, do they know how to pick up the phone and ask for help from our neighbours? Sometimes you would wonder who is in charge of the country.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say