Fires across Waterford estates must be brought to a stop before someone is seriously hurt or killed.
Sinn Fein Councillor Jim Griffin says last night was another frightening night for residents of An Garraun in Tramore.
Two fires were started at midnight in the estate, resulting in a loss of electricity for multiple homes.
Cllr. Griffin says one family had to bring young children outside, for fear of smoke inhilation, with flames blazing as high as nearby rooftops.
"There was two residents out in their driveway when I arrived. One particular family had to take their children outside. Two school-going children. One of them suffers with asthma. They had their windows open on account of the good weather, and they were afraid of smoke inhalation."
Cllr. Griffin made his way to the scene of the fire late last night, and he says it was far too close a call for comfort.
"I was on the go pretty late last night. I woke up this morning to hear of the terrible tragedy in Kerry. Albeit the circumstances are completely different, had the parents of a certain family been fast asleep last night - and the fire been any closer, we could have been looking at a similar tragedy in Waterford. A family could have died in devastating circumstances."
Solutions
Cllr. Griffin believes that these fires were started deliberately. He says that there have been incidents in the estate where fireworks have been shot in the direction of horses and animals.
He has called for the scrub land which has been consistently set alight to be bulldozed. Cllr. Griffin believes someone must be reprimanded for this behaviour, before it's too late.
"I'm calling on the local authority to find out the owners of the land. We need this scrub land bulldozed away in order to stop these fires from happening. We need to put measures in place, where these culprits, regardless of their age - that someone will have to take responsibility for their actions."
The Sinn Fein Councillor says a spate of fires have been going on for six months, and no one has ever been punished.
"Something has to be done. It's not good enough to say that they're young teenagers and nothing can be done. Their parents definitely know that they're out at that hour of the night. Someone has to be held accountable. We can't be blaming the Council and blaming local Gardai. It's been six or seven months since I first highlighted this in local media. Here we are in September, back at it again. Nobody charged and nobody caught. I'm pretty sure that the authorities know this small individual group that are causing mayhem in this area."
With Halloween on the horizon, residents are hoping the fires will be brought to a halt as they are fearful of increased activity with fireworks.
