Wildfire believed to have been caused by disposable barbecue
Fire-safety works continued in Killarney National Park yesterday after a devastating wildfire, believed to have been caused by a disposable barbecue, torched approximately 20 hectares of land.
Personnel from Kenmare, Killarney and Killorglin fire stations were working with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to check for smouldering embers left from Tuesday’s fire and to drop water on nearby dry woodland to prevent a second blaze.
The N71 Ring of Kerry Road between Moll’s Gap and Muckross House was closed after the alarm was raised at around 5.30pm on Tuesday and reopened overnight before closing again until 3pm yesterday.
Fire safety works continued in Killarney National Park yesterday following a devastating wildfire. Pic: Valerie O’Sullivan/FREE PICS/NPWS
Two helicopters from the NPWS were used to extract water from nearby Lough Leane to drop on the fire, which was finally brought under control at 10.30pm.
Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan shared a photo online yesterday of what fire experts were ‘almost certain’ was the disposable barbecue ‘that caused such ecological devastation in Killarney National Park’.
The fire came within metres of one of the country’s last stands of ancient oak trees at the Derrycunnihy Woods, about ten kilometres south of Killarney town, he said.
Fire safety works continued in Killarney National Park yesterday following a devastating wildfire. Pic: Valerie O’Sullivan/FREE PICS/NPWS
The minister promised to look at amending legislation on the use of disposable barbecues and appealed to people not to buy them, or for shops to sell them.
‘The devastating fire in Killarney National Park is not a natural disaster – it is caused by human activity, not nature,’ he said. ‘Lighting fires or using disposable barbecues in a National Park or any wild area is not carelessness, it is gross irresponsibility – especially during a heatwave.’
‘It is a crime against nature, against local communities and against future generations who have the right to inherit these precious landscapes intact.’
Fire safety works continued in Killarney National Park yesterday following a devastating wildfire. Pic: Getty Images
The Fianna Fáil minister praised the work of the NPWS teams and local fire crews involved in getting the fire under control, but added ‘the impact on biodiversity is devastating’.
Cathaoirleach of the Killarney municipal district, Councillor Niall Kelleher, told Extra.ie yesterday that he agrees with Mr O’Sullivan’s comments about potentially banning disposable barbecues.
‘I can’t make out how someone would use one there, in such dry conditions,’ the councillor said. ‘It’s devastating to see something like this being started by human intervention.
‘I thought we had awareness of this but clearly not enough. It would be difficult to track these people down, but it would be good for awareness if they could be held to account for the fire.’
‘Work is continuing here as a safety precaution – preventative measures including helicopter activity taking water from the lake and dumping it crossing the N71, dampening areas that are also at risk.’
‘I want to thank the volunteers and National Park staff for their huge effort to preserve the beauty of our area,’ he said.
The preventative works came just before Met Éireann issued a Status Yellow high temperature warning yesterday for 20 counties and warned of an increased risk of forest fires, drought and heat stress as temperatures remained over 27C.
Any rain over the coming days is set to be confined to scattered localised areas, the forecaster said.
