Coillte and the National Parks and Wildlife Service have kicked off wildfire season with a stark warning.
They say humans are to blame for almost every forest fire in Ireland and a careless spark from a campfire or disposable BBQ can devastate wildlife, and destroy habitats for decades.
Local fire crews each year are called to a number of incidents across the two counties in particular in the Blackstairs and on Brandon.
Pat Neville is Coilite’s Forest Communications Manager and he’s urging visitors to forests and mountains to act responsibly, saying; “We’re at the start of the forest fire season now which runs until September and that means there’s a very high risk of fires and forest fires in the outdoors so even lighting a small fire in the outdoors can get out of control quite quickly and can cause serious and extensive damage”.
