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Fire service feeling the heat


THE county fire service attended 460% more forest, bog and gorse fires in the first six months of 2010 compared to 2009.

According to figures obtained from Clare’s Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly, from January to June 2009 the fire service attended 36 such fires in the county, but  this figure jumped to 206 for the same period last year.
This figure continued to rise to a peak of 290 for such fires for the period January to October 2010, compared with just 92 for 2009.
The spike in forest, bog and gorse fires has put significant pressure on the resources of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service and the local authority. Mr Kelly said such fires can cost in the region of €2,000 to €3,000 per call-out for smaller incidents but €10,000 to €15,000 for larger ones.
He explained one gorse fire in 2010 took 10 hours to bring under control with 20 firemen in attendance at a cost of €8,000 to the local authority.
“This number of incidents represents 21% of our total number of incidents (1,356) attended in 2010.  This was a significant use of our resources, both manpower and equipment, and the costs associated were ultimately borne by the local authority.  Additionally, and more importantly, by deploying resources to these incident types, it may affect our ability to mobilise as quickly to other incidents such as building fires or road traffic collisions, where a more urgent need of assistance may be required,” he said.
As a result of the increase in this type of activity, Clare County Council’s Environment Section, with An Garda Síochána, the National Parks and Wildlife Services and the fire service are co-operating closely to provide education with a view to change the mindset of those who start such fires.

 

“It is incumbent on the Clare County Fire and Rescue Service to protect life and property and uncontrolled burning can result in loss of life as well as damage to property. It is important that people familiarise themselves with the guidance on the relevant websites to ensure the necessary precautions are taken so that any legal burning is done in a controlled manner and that a fire brigade is not turned out to a fire unnecessarily,” Mr Kelly highlighted.
Stressing the dangers associated with burning gorse and scrub, Clare Garda Chief Superintendent John Kerin echoed the points raised by Mr Kelly.
“I know the Clare Fire Service has spent an inordinate amount of time in 2010 putting out some really large fires, some of which threatened family homes. What I would like to stress is that if not carefully controlled, the fires can get out of control and result in deaths, serious injuries, as well as private homes being burned,” Chief Supt Kerin commented.
“People who set such fires should remember if it gets out of hand and results in people being injured or killed, they could be liable to criminal proceedings for “reckless endangerment” under Section 13 of the Non-fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.  Conviction for such an offence can result in a fine, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years imprisonment, or both. They can also be made liable in civil proceedings for damages caused to other people’s property or to forestry and the costs involved in any successful proceedings could be substantial,” he added.
Chief Supt Kerin explained that a large number of people in Clare go into forestry to provide a small pension scheme for themselves and he highlighted that the destruction of forestry by deliberate fires has resulted in people losing that scheme.
“Apart from the cost of human life, the fires have many other hidden costs, the first being time and resources expended by the fire services, which affects their ability to provide other services to the public and in reality, the costs come from the taxpayers. Secondly, insurance costs for those with forestry increases because of fires and this can make investing in forestry cost prohibitive,” he outlined.
Speaking about the burning of gorse, he said while gardaí recognise this practice has been going on for generations and do want to assist people, they “cannot condone the growth in the numbers of such fires in recent years”, especially in light of the “amount of reckless damage being caused by the lack of supervision or care” taken. 
“People intending to burn gorse, etc, should seek the appropriate advice from the fire services and ensure the fires are supervised by experienced people with the appropriate skills in this area. We will be working closely with the Fire Services and the National Parks and Wildlife Services this year to ensure the laws are complied with and in effort to protect life and property and we are appealing to people to co-operate with us,” Chief Supt Kerin concluded.
Meanwhile, Clare County Council also issued a statement this week warning against backyard and uncontrolled burning. The local authority launched a public information campaign to raise awareness of the dangers and legal implications surrounding both backyard burning and uncontrolled burning.
Mayor of Clare, Councillor Christy Curtin noted, “The burning of waste (or backyard burning) threatens life, property and our environment.  It is often mistakenly seen as a cheap method of managing waste and it is presumed not to be harmful to the environment, but nothing could be further from the truth”.
“The purpose of all the environmental legislation is to protect and prevent damage to our environment. We are all very proud of the Banner County, and we have a responsibility to protect our wonderful environment in Clare. I am urging you to say no to backyard burning and ensure any legal burning is done in a controlled manner as it is vital we don’t have a repeat of the record numbers of fires attended by the fire service in 2010,” the mayor added.
Robert Burns, Clare County Council’s waste enforcement officer added “A tremendous amount of work has been done to reduce the incidents of illegal burning and the message is definitely getting through. Clare County Council has already taken successful prosecutions against offenders for illegal burning and this should act as a clear warning for anyone who still mistakenly thinks it is acceptable to burn waste illegally”.
The authority also stressed it is illegal to burn household or commercial/industrial waste, household green waste (such as hedging), electric cables for the recovery of copper, or to burn waste in bonfires.
The body adds if the burning of waste creates environmental damage, nuisance or gives rise to pollution, the advice is, do not burn. Landowners should notify the fire service at least one day in advance of any intended burning and the gardaí must be notified in writing seven days in advance.
Encouraging people to read the guidance sheet on burning on the council website, www.clarecoco.ie, the council added that anyone with questions can contact 065 6846331. The guidance sheet also covers precautions to be taken when burning exempt agricultural waste.

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