Up in Smoke

On Thursday and Friday nights, fires burned right across Connacht. In almost all cases, the fires are deliberately started. The consequences were severe – the Irish Times reported that Coillte estimate  the cost of damage to forest plantations at around 1 million euro. Near Moycullen, west of Galway city, some families had to be evacuated as fires burned close to their houses.

Every year is the same, and it seems that the same thoughtlessness and stupidity prevails irrespective of the damage caused. The consequences for wildlife, particularly birds, is catastrophic at this time of year. But it is not just animals in danger. Sooner or later, there will be human casualties – a firefighter, a homeowner or landowner. The fires in Connemara spread quickly because the land is relatively flat and breezes from the coast fan the flames. The boglands are dry at the moment, and covered with gorse [furze], long grasses and heather =- all highly flammable. It is the gorse that the firestarters are trying to eliminate – gorse is a voracious plant, difficult to uproot and quick to spread across boggy land.

There is one big drawback – which is evident once you look at a satellite picture of west Galway. The ‘triangle’ of land between the coast road west of Galway city (leading out to Spiddal and beyond) and the N59 along Lough Corrib (leading to Moycullen and Oughterard) is mainly bog and forestry and suffers from many fires every summer. As the population of Galway has expanded, many people now live along the bog roads leading out of Moycullen, Barna, Spiddal and Oughterard.

I didn’t get a chance to see the fires earlier in the week, but while I was driving along the coast road near Na Forbacha (Furbo) this afternoon, I spotted a fire just lit behind a farmhouse. Soon, it had burned off most of the undergrowth in the field, and had sent a thick cloud of smoke across all of the neighbouring houses. A field or two away lay some bogland – had the fire reached there, it would have become rather more serious. As it was, the fire was sending bits of burning embers flying into the air and across fields. It didn’t seem like the smartest thing in the world to do.

Some years ago, I witnessed a man in Barna try to burn off scrub around his house, only to nearly burn his own house down when the wind changed. The Fire Brigade had to come out from Galway to put it out. They should have hosed yer man down too, as a lesson.

It has been raining since 5pm this evening, which should dampen the ardour of the burning men of Connemara.