'Stay away': Roz Purcell's plea as flames close in on family homes
Tearful Roz Purcell has described the fear and exhaustion she’s suffering while watching wildfires burn in the ravaged area close to where she and her family live.
The 2FM host revealed this week that she and her family were packing up their belongings as the devastating fires on Slievenamon in Co. Tipperary spread towards them.
Her parents and sister Rachel live at the foot of Slievenamon, while she and another sister have homes higher up, close to the treeline and surrounded by forestry.
Former beauty queen Roz, 35, said: ‘I feel like I’ve smoked about 900 cigarettes in the past 24 hours. The smoke is really bad right here, so definitely don’t come over for a look.
‘I hope no one ever has to go through this. If you are thinking of coming to the area to have a look at the fires, don’t, they’ve closed off all the roads because there was a huge amount of people here last night and obviously the roads need to be clear for emergency services.’
She praised firefighters and Air Corps crews, saying helicopters had continued to make water drops over the mountain, but added that ‘it’s kind of scary not knowing what’s happening’.
The former Miss Universe Ireland shared a post on Instagram showing farm hands and a jeep leading sheep out of danger.
‘Just everyone on the road directing animals and people off the mountain. Everyone’s a bit lost on what is happening with a fire scorching towards people’s homes and animals,’ she wrote.
Roz has been sharing updates regularly over the past few days, praising the farmers in the area for trying to save as much as they can.
‘The wind just keeps on reigniting [the fires],’ she said in another update, going on to add: ‘Communities have come together to save each other, especially the farmers. Hopefully more help is coming.’
On Thursday night, Roz shared an article about the farmers’ efforts to help with the fires and wrote: ‘Heroes!
‘Everyone on the mountain will remember the farmers and locals who came up to work all night long. And of course the Irish Air Corps, contractors, and fire services.’
