Almost 300 wild fires tackled in Northern Ireland in one week

Almost 300 wild fires have been tackled in Northern Ireland in one week.

These include a blaze in the Mourne Mountains in Co Down last weekend which sparked a major incident and saw people evacuated from their homes.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said it received 2,014 emergency calls from April 3-10. Of these, the sevice attended 1,112 incident, including 296 wild fires.

Many of the fires are believed to have been started deliberately.

The NIFRS has urged the public to remain vigilant around the risk of fire in the countryside with the weather warning for wildfires remaining in place.

The chief fire and rescue officer Aidan Jennings commended firefighters for working through “extremely challenging and exhausting conditions”.

“Many of the incidents our service has responded to in the last seven days have been significant, with one wildfire declared as a major incident and multiple others occurring simultaneously,” he said.

“This, coupled with the many other fire and special service emergency calls we have received, has created a challenge for us in maintaining normal service delivery.

“The impact has been felt right across our service with everyone playing their part in our response.

“I want to commend our fire fighters for their exceptional work in tackling the wildfires in these extremely challenging and exhausting conditions.

“Our on-call firefighters have been remarkable and I want to thank them, their employers and their families for their support and understanding at this time.

“I also want to pay tribute to our control room operators who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to support the operational response and maintain normal service delivery, along with many support employees across the organisation.”

He added that he wants to reassure the public that contingency plans remain in place and the NIFRS will continue to respond where needed in an emergency.

“However, with a weather warning still in place, I am reiterating our appeal to adhere to our fire safety advice. Please act safely over the coming days and stay vigilant to fire in the countryside,” he said.

Two of the larger fires tackled on Thursday included blazes in Draperstown, Co Londonderry, and Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh.

A spokesperson for the NIFRS said it was called at 4.48pm to a report of a fire at 25 acres of gorse on Corrick Road, Draperstown, and five fire appliances, the command support unit and specialist wildfire teams attended the incident, which had been dealt with by 9.33pm.

The NIFRS was called at 4.23pm to reports of a gorse fire on Friary Road in Newtownhamilton, and five fire appliances and 25 firefighters attended the incident, which had been dealt with by 7.18pm.

Meanwhile, firefighters were also called to reports of a one-mile fire front gorse blaze on the Bunnisnagapple Road, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, at 9.22pm, which was attended by three fire appliances and 15 firefighters – and was dealt with by 11.46pm.

Sinn Fein Mid Ulster MLA Emma Sheerin called for “those responsible” for the fire in Draperstown “to be held to account”.

“I want to extend my sincere thanks to the firefighters and emergency service personnel who worked tirelessly to contain and extinguish the fire,” she said.

“Authorities have indicated that the fire is believed to have been started deliberately. This is deeply concerning.

“Those responsible must be held to account.”