Fire on Cooley mountains in north Louth 'probably was deliberate'

A fire that saw around 30 hectares of gorse burned on the Cooley Mountains in north Louth on Tuesday night "almost probably was deliberate ignition" a Senior Fire Officer with Louth Fire Service has told the Dundalk Democrat.

The Louth Fire Service sent four fire engines, two tankers and a Senior Fire Officer to deal with the blaze, which the Senior Fire Officer says, was probably about 2km past the Lumpers pub in the Ravensdale area, and was "well away from any houses".

The fire was contained to the top of the mountain and took about three hours for the fire to be brought under control, the Senior Fire Officer told the Dundalk Democrat. Once the fire had reached the fire break, he explained, it couldn't go any further and following advice from Coillte, the fire services withdrew from the mountain, at around 11pm.

Crews came were Ardee, Dunleer, Carlingford and Dundalk fire stations to deal with the blaze but the Senior Fire Officer added that "at no stage did it compromise the fire services coverage for the rest of County Louth."

^{Above: Image courtesy of Eva Ryan Kennedy}

"We would throw a lot of resources at it early to stop it from reaching forestry", he added. "Once it reaches forestry we are in the realms of where we were in Jenkinstown a few years back, when it burned for five days. We'll do everything we can do stop that."

On identifying the source of the fire the Senior Fire Officer said that it was "too early to speculate but it would be unusual for those fires to start spontaneously at this time of year. In most cases they would be deliberate ignition."

"The fire service would ask people to be very very careful in terms of discarding cigarettes, portable barbecues. Even small fires can grow to huge fires so our advice would be, please keep any naked flames off the mountain where possible."

When it was put to the Senior Fire Officer that on Tuesday night, considering the time of year and the weather it may be unlikely that there would be many people out hiking, for example, he said that "it would be unusual for it to start spontaneously, it almost probably was deliberate ignition."

He concluded by saying that Louth Fire Service would strongly discourage any form of burning. "If there are different ways of disposing of organic matter, we would urge you to look at that rather than using burning as a first resort. Just to remind people, from 1 March, burning any form of shrubbery or hedgerow or field is unlawful."

The cutting, grubbing, burning or other destruction of “vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch” between 1st March and 31st August is prohibited under Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976. Suspected breaches are investigated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and An Garda Síochána.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan TD said: "As of today, such fires are illegal, and those that intend to set them should be aware that all across the country, our National Parks and Wildlife Service has more rangers on the ground than ever before. We're also using new technologies, including aerial monitoring, to protect nature against wildlife crime.

"We are taking wildlife crime extremely seriously: 32 prosecutions were secured in 2022, there have been two successful ones so far in 2023 and there are a further 60 cases on hand. This is in addition to consequences to landowners for eligibility under the Basic Payment Scheme through cross-compliance with the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
 
"We're in a biodiversity crisis and we all have a part to play in making space for nature to survive and thrive. I’m appealing to everyone to do your bit and play your part to help us protect our precious hedgerow and upland habitats, which provide such important refuge for nature at this crucial time of year.
 
"If you see what you suspect to be a hedge-cutting or burning offence - report it in confidence to your local local NPWS office or Garda station, and report fires immediately to the Fire and Emergency Services on 112 or 999.”