This article is from page 3 of the 2006-07-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
“TINDER BOX” conditions have resulted in more grass and forest fires during the first five months of this year than all of last year.
The Clare fire services were called to as many as 52 grass and forest fires in the months to the end of May, almost twice as many as during the same period in 2005.
Clare’s chief fire officer Adrian Kelly associated the rise in the number of fires with the weather.
The fire chief explained that the long dry spell had been the cause of a lot of the fires.
The lack of greenery also made it difficult to contain fires, he said.
While some of the large fires might have resulted from people leaving smaller fires unattended, a carelessly discarded cigarette butt on dry terrain or broken glass left in the countryside also resulted in blazes breaking out in Clare.
The Clare fire services have been called to 94 fires up to July 21 last.
There were just 49 such fires in all of 2005.
In 2004, there were 90 fires during the 12 months, while there were as many as 164 the previous year.
While Chief Kelly recognised the role the dry weather played in the varying number of fires, he said there were a number of ways people could prevent the fires starting.
“When in the country, people should be aware of their surroundings at all times and consider the habitat at all times,” he said.
He warned visitors to the countryside not to throw cigarette butts, or leave broken glass in fields.
The current weather makes for tinder box conditions, he warned. Burning is prohibited between April 15 and August 31 each year.
Clare County Council’s Fire Authority issues an appeal to landowners every year to contact the fire brigade before carrying out any burning.
Burning should be started early in the day with a fire break of at least 50 feet (16 metres) made at the outside of the area to be burned.
People should check the weather forecast and not burn in exceptionally dry conditions where strengthening or variable winds are likely.
The guidelines state that fire should be burnt against the direction of the wind and that no one should carry out the operation alone.
“Remember that strong fire creates its own wind currents so don’t allow it to burn too fast,” the council warns.