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GORSE FIRES IN Howth are beginning to come under control after burning for over a month.
Firefighters from Dublin Fire Brigade remained on Howth Head overnight on Wednesday to continue to monitor the blaze and to tackle hotspots and flare-ups.
Station Officer Darren O’Connor told The Journal that “the situation has vastly improved” with the fire now contained to a perimeter of around 2.5km.
Drones with thermal imaging capabilities are being used to identify hotspots so the fire service can continue to monitor them.
“It has been a very difficult fire to tackle due to the fact that it was burning on a slope and access in parts was extremely difficult for firefighters,” O’Connor said.
The Air Corps is assisting firefighters by dumping water on more inaccessible areas, while a 700 metre long firebreak has been completed along Carrickbrack Road to protect homes on the hill.
The fires have burned an area of approximately 65 acres since they were first identified on 22 June.
The spread has been exacerbated by the high temperatures Ireland is currently experiencing.
A 700 Metre long firebreak to protect homes has been completed by contractors at the #Howth wildfire.
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) July 22, 2021
Firefighters are remaining on scene to deal with hotspots as they flare up. pic.twitter.com/NVaQvINM0z
Met Éireann has extended the Status Yellow high temperature weather warning for the entire country. It was due to expire this evening but will now be in place until 9am tomorrow morning.
Years of dried-out vegetation on Howth Head has allowed the fire to spread more easily. O’Connor said this has been particularly difficult for crews to deal with.
“It burns with very little oxygen, it results in a lot of smoke and it’s very, very hot. As it burns deep into the ground, it involves digging it out and getting water onto it,” he said.
He added that the fires are not currently intense, but that fire crews are concentrating on a pathway known locally as The Bog of Frogs.
“There’s some hotspots burning in the vegetation up near the pathway and we’re trying to protect homes in that area,” he added.
Local Labour councillor Brian McDonagh was inspecting the progress made in tackling the fires yesterday, which he described as “very serious” and “unprecedented”.
He told The Journal that residents in the area have found it very difficult to deal with the fire being so close to their homes.
“I know people with any kind of lung condition found it very difficult to live near it and had to leave. You just can’t live in your house when you’re so close and there’s so much smoke,” he said.
He said that at its worst, the level of smoke was affecting people living in Portmarnock, approximately 8km away.
“It’s not good to be inhaling smoke for any period of time, so that level of smoke for that number of weeks was very seriously affecting residents,” he added.
McDonagh said that an environmental management plan is needed in order to manage the land and prevent gorse fires of this level from happening in the future.
This will include increasing the herd of goats that are already on the mountain to help to keep the gorse at a low level.
Fingal County Council has secured a goat herder and plans to introduce 25 goats in August in order to reduce the vegetation growth in the area.
“Goats would’ve previously been on the land grazing, so that’s what the attempt will be to bring it back to a certain stage. Whether that’s going to be enough is another question,” McDonagh said, adding that they must identify the most natural way to manage the gorse.
“The big issue is to try and have a natural rejuvenation of vegetation there which will try and minimise the risk of recurrence in a few years when it grows back,” he added.
He said that the extent to which the wildfires have burned this year can’t be allowed to reoccur.
“Given the likelihood of the conditions changing every year with global warming, we need to try and use environmental means like planting trees that retain moisture, appropriate vegetation, keeping open fire breaks that will mean we don’t get such large scale fires spreading in the future,” he said.
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Yes, and they’re the only other EU country with an opt-out of the EU migration pacts also, which they utilised to great success.
It just means enforcing pre-existing laws. Something that our Dept of Justice can’t or won’t do for some reason.
(Denmark CHOSE to opt in to the temporary Ukrainian asylum pact)
@Finn Barr: You’re obsessed with immigration
Ha! I’ve been to Denmark, and I have spent a lot of time in Spain (not as a tourist)… And I can confirm, there’s no place like Ireland.
@Seriously Really: I’m just curious if you don’t mind, what are the main differences between the three countries that make Ireland a better place than Denmark or Spain for you? xxx
@mariona l: To be pedantic, Seriously Really didn’t say that Ireland was better, just that there is no place like it.
(Although that might have been the intention.)
@Seriously Really: Yes, I wish they’d asked Irish people whether they’d been to the other countries for more than a fortnight’s holiday!
No countries are quite alike. I think some respondents chose a country that they spent pleasant holidays in. The Danes make an intensive use of their agricultural land. Their cities are zoned and carefully landscaped. Danish personality attitudes may be very different from Irish.
If only our country was as progressive. Imagine living in a country with good public services.
No reporting on attempted child abduction in dublin by migrant yesterday any news journal
@david duncan: do a Google search for “attempted abduction dublin” and you’ll find all the reports you need, even by the Journal.ie. Just because you didn’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.
@Oretani Wildlife: I was curious and try to find myself.
The reports you’re talking about seem to be all from last week.
David is talking about yesterday and all I could find are some stories on “X” with an “EXCLUSIVE” interview by right-wing buddy Gavin Pepper.
Why does ‘TEAM IRELAND not recognise irish people !??
“Denmark supports a high standard of living—its per capita gross national product is among the highest in the world—with well-developed social services. The economy is based primarily on service industries, trade, and manufacturing; only a tiny percentage of the population is engaged in agriculture and fishing.”
@Thesaltyurchin: Is that a quote, & from where? True enough that Irish people aren’t as interested in fishing – historical reasons there – but we have a large agricultural economy, surely?
You have an incorrect spelling there for Connacht FYI.
Interesting that Labour supporters have an affinity with that reservoir of the far-right.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Denmark a reservoir of the far-right? What a ludicrous comment. Its government consists of social democrats, liberals and moderates.
Of all the established parties in Ireland, SF attracts the most support from those with right-wing views on immigration etc.
@Brendan O’Brien: Read my comment again, Brendan.
Read.
And try to understand.
@Brendan O’Brien: That’s because those people were too ignorant to realise that Sinn Fein are a pro immigration party up until recent events. That was always going to come and SF don’t know how to deal with it.
@Brendan O’Brien: yet their policy is open boarders
A Dubliner dies and goes to heaven, St Peter shows him his new mansion as he always wanted, a park to walk the dogs, a leasing centre, there was no heat, no cold, no sickness, just pure peace and quiet as he always wished. He sat in the benches watching people walk their dogs, played football with others. He got bored after a week, asking St Peter if he could see he’ll. St Peter told him that there’s a days package to visit he’ll, just go to the lift, press the 666 and wait to go down.
When the doors opened , there’s was party music playing, a Vegas casino, people serving drinks, weed, his old friends were there. He hit the jackpot at the a lot machine, got drunk, stoned, got lucky with a devil girl.
At 6am he came back drunk to heaven and asked St Peter to take out his name off heaven, that he was going to hell: “All what you wished while you were alive, peace, security, health, you got it here in heaven, if I do this, there will be no turning back” St Peter warned him. “So what, it’s boring here, back home I had to hustle, I had adrenaline, I got nothing here”.
The Dubliner went back to the lift, pressed 666, but when the doors opened, there was no Vegas, no music, no friends, drinks, no fun, just 7 giant burning pots. A demon grabbed him with his trident and put him into a burning pot. The Dubliner suffering shouted for the Devil, he appeared saying “what do you want?”..”Devil, I was here yesterday and I had a lot of fun, now I’m getting screwed, what’s the story man?”.. “well, let that be a lesson that one thing is being a tourist and the other is being an immigrant”.
@J Ven: eejit.
@bruce banner. Never mind good, I’d settle for living in a country with public services.
more eu propaganda….bit like Hitler in the late 30′s
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