DRAMATIC video footage has captured the scenes as wild fire tore through gorse in a suburb of Dublin.
Four units from the Dublin Fire Brigade were called to an area near Howth Hill, Howth which was engulfed by wildfire.
Large billows of smoke caused a road to be closed and resulted in serious visibility issues for motorists, though luckily no one was hurt.
The fire, which was first spotted at around 5.30pm on May 3, wasn’t put out until around 7pm that evening.
Dublin Fire Brigade said they had deployed a drone to monitor the fire and see how far it had spread.
In the footage, posted on Dublin Fire Brigade’s Twitter page, the huge gorse fire can be seen raging below as fire crews battle to get it under control.
We used a drone equipped with FLIR-thermal camera at the #Howth gorse #fire earlier. It allows firefighters to detect hotspots #Dublin #fire pic.twitter.com/wEswg8sUwf
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) May 2, 2017
The drone was also equipped with an FLIR-thermal camera which firefighters used to detect hotspots in the fire.
Images from the thermal imaging camera on the drone show huge red spots where the fire was at its hottest.
Another video, also posted by the Dublin Fire Brigade, shows a trail of ash smouldering after the fire was put out.
Gorse fires are a relatively common occurrence across Ireland and become more frequent towards the dry summer months.
Check out the dramatic footage below...
At the #Howth gorse fire last night crews used a drone to keep track of the #fire, to protect nearby houses. 4 units attended #Dublin pic.twitter.com/16iUjT9SbH
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) May 3, 2017
Firefighting operations are beginning to wind down at the #Howth gorse fire, we received the first 999 calls at 1730 #Dublin #fire pic.twitter.com/dJIWZAaj2q
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) May 2, 2017
