MAYO CHIEF fire officer Séamus Murphy has issued a public appeal for caution to visitors in rural areas, after firefighters extinguished one of the most extensive bog and gorse fires in the north of the county in recent years.
The fire, which Coillte estimates to have caused €1 million worth of damage to forestry, was quenched early on Friday.
Mr Murphy said he would appeal to people cooking outdoors or discarding cigarettes to “think again”, due to the fire risk. He believes the blaze may have started accidentally.
During its four days, the blaze spread over a 3.2sq km area of Erris in the Bunalty-Cregganmore area, about eight kilometres from the Corrib gas refinery under construction at Bellanaboy.
Northeasterly winds meant that smoke could be seen some 30 kilometres from the blaze.
At one point, seven residential houses were threatened, but 35 firefighters attached to Belmullet, Crossmolina and Ballina stations created a firebreak to help bring it under control. Mr Murphy said that the topography and isolated nature of the area made firefighting more difficult, and aerial support had to be provided by Coillte.
John Monaghan, spokesman for pipeline opponents Pobal Chill Chomain in the Kilcommon parish, said the fire was a “wake-up call” to those who had approved the Corrib gas refinery.
“The Bellanaboy refinery is in the middle of a forest, with a high pressure pipeline planned to link to it, and plans for emissions and cold venting,” Mr Monaghan said.
“We’ve already had a landslide in this area – in Pollathomas in 2003 – and a recent bog slide was confirmed by the ESB during road upgrading for the gas project.
“The lack of adequate emergency services if something did go wrong has been of major concern to objecting residents. The fire this week demonstrated that any accident will have an impact on the whole of Erris,” Mr Monaghan said. Shell EP Ireland was unable to give details of its emergency plan, a spokesman said.
