Cork County Council fire crews in west Cork responded to over 20 gorse or vegetation fires primarily in the Mizen and Beara peninsulas last weekend.

All six fire brigades - Bantry, Castletownbere, Schull, Skibbereen, Dunmanway and Clonakilty - were involved.

“Crews worked hard in very challenging conditions for long hours tackling these fires, some of which came very close to private houses, with all houses protected.

"Fire crews contended with very heavy vegetation cover together with strong winds, which made it very difficult to fight the fires,” a Cork County Council spokesperson said.

Mount Gabriel fire

On Sunday evening, a gorse fire came very close to the Irish Aviation Centre on Mount Gabriel near Schull in the county.

Gardaí called Schull fire brigade, assisted by Dunmanway fire brigade, “as the fires came very close to the radar installation and buildings”.

“Crews extinguished the fire near the installation using water from their appliances,” the spokesperson said.

The council spokesperson added that the council wants to highlight how uncontrolled fires pose a danger to wildlife, property, infrastructure, the environment and, potentially, human life.

“They can be a significant and prolonged draw on fire service resources and may compromise the ability to respond to other incidents such as road traffic collisions or domestic fires.

“The burning of vegetation is controlled by the Wildlife Act. It is an offence under Section 40 of the Wildlife Act, 1976 (amended by Section 46 of the Wildlife Act, 2000) to burn, from 1 March to 31 August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.

“Individuals who are found to burn vegetation within that prohibited period are liable to prosecution by An Garda Síochána or by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).”

In Kerry, the fire service battled five fires on Friday, 14 on Saturday and another 14 fires on Sunday, Michael Flynn of Kerry Fire Service told Radio Kerry.

No excuse

Deputy Christopher O’Sullivan, TD for Cork southwest, told the Irish Farmers Journal that burning gorse and scrub clearance is not illegal during this period and that it has to be acknowledged that burning is a recognised way of clearing scrub.

“What we saw in west Cork in recent days - there is no excuse for that level of uncontrolled burning. It appears that fires were set and left unattended and you had a whole mountain on fire.

"These are scenes we can’t condone. These fires were close to a range of houses. The six west Cork fire brigades were called out and very little thought was given to that.”

Deputy O’Sullivan said that those who lit the fires should have been more attentive and given thought to the wind conditions, which fanned the flames.

“This is legal, farmers are entitled to do scrub clearing, but more thought and care needs to be given to what’s happening,” he said.