Forestry companies across Ireland will today begin to count the cost of forest fires which raged in Wicklow, Dublin, Kerry and Antrim over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The good news - for the owners of forestry at least - is that the recent dry spell has ended.
As rain moved in yesterday, Met Éireann said the only dry spots were in the west and north-west.
While today and tomorrow are expected to be generally dry, rain is expected to spread from the south before the weekend.
In Dublin and Wicklow, Coillte will begin assessing the damage caused to its Kippure plantation after gorse fires spread to the forest on Friday.
Homes were threatened, and hundreds of acres of gorse and scrub were destroyed in the fire which at one stage lit up the sky over the Dublin mountains.
Damage costing hundreds of thousands of euro was done to private forestry on the outskirts of Killarney in a fire which raged for over 12 hours on Sunday.
Six private plantations nearing maturity were destroyed when flames reached 30 feet in the Gattabawn/Gneeveguillia/Sliabh Luachra area.
The cause of the fire, notified to the services at around noon on Sunday, is not known, but is thought to be accidental and exacerbated by the dry conditions over the past five weeks.
Around 50 firefighting personnel were assisted in their efforts by civilians as winds fanned the flames over hundreds of acres of scrubland.
Six fire engines from Killarney, Castleisland, Killorglin and Tralee fought the blaze which came dangerously close to 12 houses.
Mr Donal Guerin, the county's assistant chief fire officer, said they managed to bring the flames under control shortly before midnight.
Their efforts had been hampered by the large area invovled, and the dry conditions of the ground cover.
He said the damage could have been much worse and houses could have been destroyed as flames jumped roads at a number of points. Personnel were deployed dampening down areas where the fire had come close to houses.
It was one of several fires in the south and east of the county. Some were caused by gorse fires in spite of a prohibition on burning after March 1st.
The fires will have affected nesting birds, deer and other animals and plant life.
The Northern Ireland Forest Service will assess damage to the Slieveanorra Forest Park later this week.
For the firefighters yesterday's rain came as a welcome relief as it ensured that smouldering peat would be less likely to reignite in subsequent breezes.
"I guess you could say the recent dry spell is over," said Mr David Rodgers, of Met Éireann.
"It might not be terribly wet in some areas on Tuesday and Wednesday, but some bands of rain will push up from the south."
