Department issue fire warning during heatwave

The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has issued a warning to the public to vigilant in terms of bog fires during the prolonged heatwave.
It comes after a recent fire at All Saints bog in Offaly, a special area of conservation on July 14. The department is responsible for the management of all of Ireland’s national parks and works with communities to preserve 400 different special areas of conservation (SACs), including raised bogs.
In this weather a fire, once started, can quickly gain a foothold and pose a risk to protected sites, to ecology and biodiversity, and - most importantly - to members of the public, homes, livestock and property, the department has warned.
They also wished to acknowledge the great assistance of the Ferbane and Birr Fire Brigades in dealing with the bog fire in West Offaly last Sunday.
The NPWS also organised a specialist helicopter which dumped 500 litre buckets of water at a time on the blaze in order to save the rare bog woodland and adjoining forestry plantations. Approximately 12,500 litres of water were dumped at the site to contain the blaze.
A specialist machine has also been place on-site to extinguish any fires smouldering on bare peat. Gardai are investigating the cause of the bog fire.