Gorse fires in Ballycroy

Mickeroo

Two big gorse fires in Ballycroy in the space of a week. I can see one of them spreading up through the national park from my front door as I type. The first one was in an area with more houses but thankfully none of them got hit. I couldn't believe it when I looked out at the weekend and the whole place was lit up.

Another one started yesterday morning near where I live but thankfully didn't spread. Seems very strange to have so many in the space of a week, but then its a long time since we've had such a long dry spell.

Be careful with open flames if you're out hiking, camping or anything in the good weather, especially in areas with lots of heather or gorse and please think twice before tossing a cigarrette butt onto the side of the road.

Hope anyone from that area hasn't had much damage done to their land or homes.

nuac

I support that. Pls be careful

yop

Fires now on the Cbar side of Westport. Burning steady for the last 2hrs and continuing to spread.

Mickeroo

Took this on a phone so it's a bit blurry, but here's the one in ballycroy about an hour ago:

rusheen

T'will be a cauld wintar . all the turf will be burnt in Ballycroy already

oscarBravo

Fire damage to our infrastructure outside Westport. Every time we get a week of dry weather, I need to start worrying about some idiot deciding to set the countryside on fire. Gob****es. :mad:

yop

oscarBravo wrote: »

Fire damage to our infrastructure outside Westport. Every time we get a week of dry weather, I need to start worrying about some idiot deciding to set the countryside on fire. Gob****es. :mad:

that was the fire I seen then. Muppets burning when I was out last night, really headless.

oscarBravo

yop wrote: »

that was the fire I seen then. Muppets burning when I was out last night, really headless.

Do me a favour: if you saw anything that could lead to a prosecution, share it with the rozzers. I'm tired of spending all-nighters and thousands of euros rebuilding because some idiot thinks it's a good idea to set the entire countryside on fire.

Apologies in advance for any outages over the next day or so while we repair.

yop

I will spin by and see if its the same place. I can't say I recognised anyone though. I will check it out before I say any more as it may not be same location.

rusheen

oscarBravo wrote: »

Do me a favour: if you saw anything that could lead to a prosecution, share it with the rozzers. I'm tired of spending all-nighters and thousands of euros rebuilding because some idiot thinks it's a good idea to set the entire countryside on fire.

Apologies in advance for any outages over the next day or so while we repair.

Sorry I am missing something but could someone explain what infrastructure is being damaged by bog fires ?

finisklin

Looks like these are being set deliberately from here and may have something to do with the start of the turf cutting season.

yop

finisklin wrote: »

Looks like these are being set deliberately from here and may have something to do with the start of the turf cutting season.

Well thats sad to see.

runawaybishop

finisklin wrote: »

Looks like these are being set deliberately from here and may have something to do with the start of the turf cutting season.

This is certainly the case with some of the fires. There's at least one in Attymass that is a result of people burning off the bogs before the cutter comes in.

yop

runawaybishop wrote: »

This is certainly the case with some of the fires. There's at least one in Attymass that is a result of people burning off the bogs before the cutter comes in.

Why are they burning them off? Its shouldn't be an issue for the cutter or the turf if there is heavy grass. Unless its more than just grass and bushes.

runawaybishop

yop wrote: »

Why are they burning them off? Its shouldn't be an issue for the cutter or the turf if there is heavy grass. Unless its more than just grass and bushes.

You'd think that but it seems quite coincidental that the machine is down and the bogs are being burned off. It happens every second year or so, my father-in-law lives in view of them and according to him it happens like clockwork.

edit: these bogs are in curradrish btw. I used to live near them myself and the bogs, from what i saw, were never really choked.

yop

runawaybishop wrote: »

You'd think that but it seems quite coincidental that the machine is down and the bogs are being burned off. It happens every second year or so, my father-in-law lives in view of them and according to him it happens like clockwork.

edit: these bogs are in curradrish btw. I used to live near them myself and the bogs, from what i saw, were never really choked.

Ok, must be some reasoning for it. FInd the grass stuck to the turf great for starting the fire but a dirty deep cut though in the finger if caught when turning/footing the turf

TopTec

It is easy to blame the turf cutting fellas. I have been up on the bog above Bonniconlon since the weekend when the machines first came in. The Attymass fire actually started the other side of the Tobercurry road and then jumped across above Bonni and continued along to Attymass. It finally went out early hours of this morning.

The concensus amongst those helping to stop the burning coming down the mountain towards the forestry is that it is more likely to be a carelessly discarded fag end. You can actually following the buring back to the area of first combustion.

There may be the odd idiot who would consider setting a fire to burn off the heather but all I have spoken to say they would intervene if they saw it happening in the current climate.

TT

Mickeroo

Can't say I've ever heard of anyone starting fires before they cut the turf, and it would offer zero benefit to the turf cutting anyway.

Either way the fire in the photo is not in an area where there would be many bogs getting cut, it's within the national park boundaries and has spread up and over two of the smaller mountains/hills in the area.

The one from the weekend covers an area wih more bogs but was also in the middle of an area with quite a few houses, so it would have been particularly idiotic to start it on purpose there. The stretch of road with the most bogs hasn't been touched. Also the patch that burned near my house would have had to spread quite a bit to reach a bog that gets cut.

So that theory doesn't really add up for me. If the fires are deliberate than its for much more facetious reasons than that imo.

Mickeroo

Hadn't realised there was so many happening around the country, gardaí think they were deliberate too. They do mention the pre-turf cutting fires (learn something new everyday!) too: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/spate-of-gorse-fires-started-deliberately-say-gardai-29175519.html

runawaybishop

TopTec wrote: »

It is easy to blame the turf cutting fellas. I have been up on the bog above Bonniconlon since the weekend when the machines first came in. The Attymass fire actually started the other side of the Tobercurry road and then jumped across above Bonni and continued along to Attymass. It finally went out early hours of this morning.

The concensus amongst those helping to stop the burning coming down the mountain towards the forestry is that it is more likely to be a carelessly discarded fag end. You can actually following the buring back to the area of first combustion.

There may be the odd idiot who would consider setting a fire to burn off the heather but all I have spoken to say they would intervene if they saw it happening in the current climate.

TT

Of course its easy to blame the turf cutters. The fires in Curradrish bog happen every year before turf gets cut, if it sounds like a duck and all.

Mickeroo wrote: »

Can't say I've ever heard of anyone starting fires before they cut the turf, and it would offer zero benefit to the turf cutting anyway.

Nonetheless, it happens often You can commonly see work being done on land that was burned recently. Apart from catching people in the act there not a lot that can be done.

irishgeo

achill fire brigade was out 5 times in 7 days last week.