Anne Lucey
The fire service continued to battle a major mountain blaze in Killarney National Park for the third night.
An Air Corps helicopter is scheduled to return this morning (Monday) to assist with the battle on the higher ground. Meanwhile, there have been calls for a system of fire breaks to be put in around public and private property.
This weekend’s fire in Killarney has spread over thousands of acre of bog and mountain from the southern side of the 25,000 hectare park northwards over Purple Mountain.
The priority is to save the oldest oak woods in Ireland at Tomies on the shores of Lough Leane. Thousands of acres of rare marsh and bog home to nesting birds and mammals have been charred.
Devastating to see the damage caused by fire at Killarney National Park.
Thank you to all involved in the incredible concerted effort to control the blaze - park staff, Kerry Fire Service and council workers, Gardai, Civil Defence, Air Corps and many others. pic.twitter.com/CEWZtfmHr7
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) April 24, 2021
Kerry County Councillor Michael Cahill said the fire was having a devastating on habitats and the psyche of locals.
“I have called for Firebreaks to be provided around Public and Private Forests and residential areas on a number of occasions over the years,” he said.
“Year after year, the lives of Fire Service Personnel are put at risk protecting our homes from these fires and our wildlife is being decimated. Everybody involved needs to come to the table, before lives are lost,” Cllr Cahill said.
“And not alone are lives and property at risk, but now the whole of Killarney National Park could be destroyed. The devastating affect that the loss of this national treasure could have on our psyche, not to mind our tourism industry is inestimable,” he said.
Meanwhile, despite speculation among some locals that the fires were caused deliberately, the authorities are keeping an open mind on the cause of the fire. Extremely dry ground and very high temperatures as well as dried out timber were factors.
A strong breeze continued on Sunday morning helping to spread the blaze and hamper efforts to contain it.
The fire is believed to have started at the southern end of the park, near the Long Range River off the N71 Ring of Kerry. Dramatic scenes appeared on social media of flames dancing into the night sky.
Locals along the Fossa shore of Lough Leane reported how they could smell the smoke from the burning mountains.
A fire in 1984, which devastated miles of parkland and burned for weeks, was suspected to have been caused by arson.
