wildfires 2011

LoanShark

As much of a disaster as this is, it Always produces some amazing pictures!! my brother is a paramedic and they are on standby, and he has some great photos taken... I sincerely hope he does not have to deal with any injuries over the course of this event..

muckish

Saw this fire last night in the distance from Letterkenny, looking over towards Manor. I think it's probably in Tyrone, but can anyone cofirm?

muckish

With current humidity levels at 14%, that easterly wind is not only fanning the flames, it must also be stripping the moisture from everything, making the gorse etc even more tinder dry.
MTC is forecasting rain to reach Ulster by this evening. It's needed.

Ayla

Betsy18 wrote: »

its really frightening, ballyshannon was covered in smoke today just heard tonight that 2 houses are ablaze and more homes have been evacuated, they are appealing for help from the public! i dont know if this is a rumour or not but im hoping its not true! well done to those out fighting to get this fire under control.

From what I hear a few houses have been lost completely. We were lucky that the fires bypassed ours, but I know it was headed directly for a residential area so others weren't as lucky.

There haven't been any trucks up our lane since 1am last night, but we're not sure yet what that means...they were using our lane to get up behind the fires as there aren't many roads to get up to the forestry areas.

bmarley

Is Bundoran under any threat?

North_West_Art

nope, shielded by the by-pass

.17hmr

i was out at the fire last night in glenties and its not very funny to see people trying to put out flames because there homes are in danger i do have to say fair play to the people and surrouning areas for their community spirit and pulling togather i take my hat off to them .

hairyprincess

Huge fire taking place at Kilraine, on the Ardara to Glenties road. It has been burning last night but has gotten out of control in the last hour or so.

The strong wind isn't helping matters

Harps

Still no sign of the fires being under control is the smoke this morning is anything to go by, back in Letterkenny now and its perfectly clear but the west is totally choked with the smoke. Had to drive back on the N56 with the other roads closed and there seems to be more new fires around Errigal

danniemcq

North_West_Art wrote: »

nope, shielded by the by-pass

fights urge to say shame....

lulubenny

The fire in and around Kilraine, between Glenties and Ardara has started up again and is spreading really fast towards whats known locally as "The Tullys". There are a lot of houses round there and local volunteers have come out in force again today to save these homes. There are whispers around here that these fires didn't happen by accident.

The community spirit iin this area is over whelming and all we can hope is that someone doesn't get hurt before the fires are brought under control.

hairyprincess

lulubenny wrote: »

The fire in and around Kilraine, between Glenties and Ardara has started up again and is spreading really fast towards whats known locally as "The Tullys".

the wind seems to be pushing it down towards Narin and Portnoo at the moment.

Hootanany

Any around Donegal Town im coming up tomorrow

Mint Sauce

Hootanany wrote: »

Any around Donegal Town im coming up tomorrow

Thankfully no. I'd say the ones going already are a enough worry. Glenties and Ardara would be the nearest. Hopefully they can all be brought under control.

retalivity

Latest satellite pic

scroll down to the middle/bottom to see donegal

homer simpson

You can actually see the black burnt ground around Dungloe, just shows you the size of area affected there!

muckish

retalivity wrote: »

Latest satellite pic

scroll down to the middle/bottom to see donegal

just cropped out Donegal

unknownlegend

Every time I see a news report on TV or radio it's being either implied or directly stated that various fires were started maliciously.

I cant understand how this conclusion was arrived at? I mean how can people tell if the huge fire around the Dungloe area or any other large fire in the county was started intentionally? It annoys me when statements like that are broadcast on national TV with seemingly no proof to back it up. Has anyone ever been charged with such an offence?

Of course, if there are reliable methods of a gorse fire's origin detection and it leads to some <snip> perpetrator who would even consider doing such a thing being caught then good. Otherwise such things shouldn't be implied lest it leads to vigilantism.

/mini-rant.


Mod edit: mind your language please, thanks!

Harps

Didnt know it was that vast, a massive area has been destroyed there, cant imagine what it must look like to drive through now. Thankfully its almost totally unpopulated but still plenty of houses at risk around Dungloe

The fire around Ardara looks bad in that pic as well, very thick smoke coming from it

homer simpson

unknownlegend wrote: »

Every time I see a news report on TV or radio it's being either implied or directly stated that various fires were started maliciously.

I cant understand how this conclusion was arrived at? I mean how can people tell if the huge fire around the Dungloe area or any other large fire in the county was started intentionally? It annoys me when statements like that are broadcast on national TV with seemingly no proof to back it up. Has anyone ever been charged with such an offence?

Of course, if there are reliable methods of a gorse fire's origin detection and it leads to some <snip> perpetrator who would even consider doing such a thing being caught then good. Otherwise such things shouldn't be implied lest it leads to vigilantism.

/mini-rant.

Like you say im sure they have ways of telling these things....


Heres the thing, most of the time its the farmers themselves who start the fires, then they get out of control. I honestly think that if someone is found to have started the fire, they should be sent the bill for sending out the fire tenders, helicopters ect. If you need them to call to an accident they are quick to charge you. You can be sure if someone is found to have started it they won't, but they should!

homer simpson

Harps wrote: »

Didnt know it was that vast, a massive area has been destroyed there, cant imagine what it must look like to drive through now. Thankfully its almost totally unpopulated but still plenty of houses at risk around Dungloe

The fire around Ardara looks bad in that pic as well, very thick smoke coming from it

To give you an idea, the contrast from one side of the road to the other is pretty mad alright....

unknownlegend

homer_simpson wrote: »

Like you say im sure they have ways of telling these things....


Heres the thing, most of the time its the farmers themselves who start the fires, then they get out of control. I honestly think that if someone is found to have started the fire, they should be sent the bill for sending out the fire tenders, helicopters ect. If you need them to call to an accident they are quick to charge you. You can be sure if someone is found to have started it they won't, but they should!

You're right. I'm just a bit hot under the collar thinking about the huge damage to the environment, the loss of animal life, and the fire coming very close to houses of friends of mine.

This seems to be increasingly bad the last few years. I'd say the very harsh winter had a part to play in it too, by causing dead grass etc which should normally be a bit more resistant to the heat.

I wonder is it time to think seriously about prevention measures? Perhaps a two pronged approach of preventative and during/post fire measures? For example, fire breaks around residential areas and forests as a preventative measure and better access routes and water reservoirs for fire-fighters in the event of a fire.

ashydol

The fires in the Ardara/Glenties area was must have been started on purpose because it started in a forest that is not a huge tourist attraction....
it is not the farmers that is starting the fires as they have nothing to gain from this land being burnt if anything they have something to lose as many have turf cut and now lost because of the fires.
there are so many homes at risk this evening its awful.
I will however praise the community as they have rallied together and have saved many houses last night and today...never have I been more glad to see as many slurry tankers.

unknownlegend

ashydol wrote: »

I will however praise the community as they have rallied together and have saved many houses last night and today...never have I been more glad to see as many slurry tankers.

Agreed on that, it's restored my faith in human nature a bit seeing everyone pull together. I know of people that were out all night last night helping with water and digging to assist their neighbours, it's very heartening.

Visitor2011

We drove back to Belfast this afternoon, from Rosbeg. We could see the big plumes of smoke coming from the Ardara road, past Sandfield. I knew it would be scary to drive through, if we even could, but I was still shocked to see householders ferrying buckets of water along the road to try and douse the fires and save their properties. Absolutely not tempted to take photos of that scene. We saw slurry and water tankers heading that way. Friends who left later than us were diverted from that road.

I think that it's the dead gorse from the severe frosts of winter providing the fuel on the moorlands. It can't all be malicious, surely. Can't buried disposable barbies set the turf on fire? (ban them anyways)

Up the hill to Inver we could see points of fire in the forests along the Glenties Road, presumably at Kilraine and over to the bog/forest on the other side of the Owenea. I have a pic of that.

Poor old Donegal, the worst winter, a dry spring, a brilliant Easter and now this disaster.






Here's the view from Rosbeg looking inland,

Ayla

I think it's important to point out that sometimes wildfires do start naturally. Of course, sometimes there are morons out there having a "laugh" but sometimes there is absolutely no ill intent or even negligence that starts these fires.

Take, for instance, if someone years ago left a glass bottle out in the forest somewhere...all this dry weather, bright sun & air flow wouldn't take long for that bottle to heat the surrounding brush & start a fire.

Just saying, perhaps we really shouldn't be putting any efforts now into finding out who's to blame, just know that there are fires all over the place that many people are trying so hard to put out.

Mycroft H

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Has the local authority activated the Civil Defence yet do you know?

There are hundreds of Auxillary Fire Service members available from across the country to help combat gorse fires, but in recent years the authorities seem to be slow in activating them for whatever reason I do not know - they are specifically trained to provide support for the Fire Brigade in these sort of situations.

Yep Civil Defense have been drafted in, but only near Glenvar. And I agree that there is hundreds of other axillary members from across the country that could help.

"These fires did not start on their own. They gave our men great difficulty because they had to go back on an area they had already finished," Donegal's chief fire officer Bobby McMenamin told the Irish Independent.


He requested assistance from the army as fires in west Donegal and in Glenvar, north of Milford, in north-east Donegal continued to rage.

"We received assistance from the civil defence for the fire in Glenvar, but we had to ask the army to come in as our men are getting fatigued now," Mr McMenamin said"

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/arson-feared-as-spate-of-fires-rips-through-west-2634859.html

hairyprincess

Homer, that is a most shocking image! Where exactly was that taken?

Definitely it is brilliant to see whole communities coming together. Although I did hear of a farmer in the Dungloe area refusing access to his land so that fire fighters could reach the fires :mad:

bmarley

danniemcq wrote: »

fights urge to say shame....

Such a beautiful place, spent the last two weeks there basking in the sun...is it always such a hot spot?

lulubenny

Just to give you an idea of what its like over in Ardara