Two fire crews battle county Clare gorse fire

Fire crews from two Clare stations are currently battling a significant bog, gorse and forestry fire near Kilmaley which had threatened local properties for a time.

The alarm was raised at around 2.25pm when homeowners in the Kilcloher area called the fire service reporting the lands adjacent to their properties were on fire.

Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis station were mobilised to the incident and quickly began tackling the blaze which was burning was close at least three homes.

Firefighters used beaters to try stamp out the fire which spread over a wide area.

Additional fire crews were later mobilised from Ennistymon station while personnel from Clare Civil Defence were requested to provide support by deploying a drone to provide fire officers with an aerial view of the fire ground.

Staff from Coillte the forestry agency are also at the scene while it’s also expected that a helicopter may be brought in to help tackle the fire from the air.

Today’s incident comes in a week when Clare was included in an orange fire hazard warning for the country.