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Howth
Firefighters tackle another weekend of massive gorse fires
Gorse fires continue to spread across the country, exacerbated by dry weather conditions.
FIRE SERVICES HAD yet another weekend of fighting gorse and grass fires around the country as the dry weather continues.
Yesterday evening, Dublin Fire Brigade responded to a gorse fire on Carrickbrack Road in Howth. Earlier in the day, firefighters from Dun Laoghaire responded to a grass fire on the Enniskerry Road.
On Sunday night hundreds of acres of land went up in flames because of a gorse fire in Fintown, Co Donegal.
Firefighters responded to a hill fire in Annamoe on Friday night, also.
These fires can be caused by accident, through dropping cigarettes or leaving glass bottles behind on a sunny day.
They also can be caused deliberately.
Farmers are permitted to burn land between 1 September and 28 February, but farmers have considered this timeframe “too narrow due to climatic conditions” to carry out the burning.
No one has ever been prosecuted for deliberately setting a fire outside the permitted timeline, despite numerous allegations that that’s what causes a great number of gorse fires.
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