An outbreak of gorse fires blazed throughout Mayo over the past number of days which led to the county’s fire services tackling extensive fires in Castlebar, Westport, Foxford, Louisburgh, Kiltimagh, and Ballinrobe. However according to a Garda spokesperson the fires were not suspicious in nature.
Last Thursday, March 11, a fire broke out in the Carrabawn area of Westport. According to Dermot Brady of the Mayo Fire Services a call was received by the fire brigade around 1pm after the fire broke out near the town’s booster station. The fire rapidly spread towards houses in Carrabawn. Fire units from Westport and Castlebar tackled the fire, on the difficult terrain, until it was extinguished at around 7.15pm.
A widespread hill fire near the Ross area of Castlebar was reported on Tuesday, March 16, around 12.15am. Mr Brady said that the main concern of the fire brigade in this situation was the adjacent 160 to 170 acres of forest, which could have been destroyed. However through the combined efforts of firefighters and Coillte foresters the fire was under control by 4am. A fire also burned in the Burren area of Castlebar, where according to Mr Brady the nearby windmills faced threat, however this fire was also brought under control.
Late on Tuesday evening a fire was also brought under control in the Shraheens area of Kiltimagh and Mr Brady said that on Tuesday afternoon fires were tackled in Louisburgh and Ballinrobe. The Attymass area of Foxford also had a fire quenched by Swinford and Ballina fire brigades around 5am on Tuesday morning.
