Kerry ablaze as over a dozen gorse fires reported

KERRY was burning last night with reports of out-of-control gorse fires filtering in from all over the county.

Firefighters spent much of the night battling a major blaze in the Loughguittane area of Muckross which was first reported around teatime and was not brought totally under control until 4.30am today.

Fire flashpoints were also reported on Strickeen mountain, near the Gap of Dunloe, in Keel, Castlemaine, Firies, Kilcummin, Beaufort and on a number of the the mountains and hills surrounding the beach at Inch.

A major gorse fire was also reported in Tahilla, Sneem where three units of the fire brigade had to attend and locals said the blaze, whipped up by a howling eastern wind, came to within 200m of some homes.

Fires were also reported in Caherciveen, Cromane, Callinafercy and Castlevove.

There were up to a dozen fires reported in all and the problem was compounded by the fact that the land was particularly dry for this time of the year.

Farmers were igniting the fires to clear scrub in the uplands to encourage new growth for livestock grazing and, legally, they have until February 28 to do so. But several complaints were made that the fires got out of control, particularly with very strong winds blowing which had been flagged in advance across the county.

In the Muckross are of Killarney, some locals said they feared for their safety as, on occasions, they were concerned that their homes were at risk by the fires.

It is currently an offence under the Wildlife Act to burn any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated from March 1 to August 31.

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