THE DUBLIN Fire Brigade tackled an enormous fire in the Dublin Mountains yesterday evening.
Images from the gorse fire, which started due to low rainfall in recent days, shows the mountains engulfed in smoke and flames.
Members from the Rathfarnham and Tallaght units of the Dublin Fire Brigade took to the mountains yesterday evening at approximately 7pm to tackle the blaze, which was raging near the Hellfire Club on Montpellier Hill.
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) May 17, 2020
Firefighters battled the blaze for hours, with members from forestry operation Coillte also attending the scene.
A photograph from just after 11pm, more than four hours after firefighters first attended the scene, shows the fire continue to blaze as darkness descended on the mountains.
Firefighters have attended the gorse wildfire in the Dublin mountains and Coillte staff are on scene now too. At present it is heading towards a fire break #Dublin #fire #DublinMountains #Hellfire Club stock📸 pic.twitter.com/mW9bujvSOa
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) May 17, 2020
Locals also snapped images of the blaze, which could be seen from Dublin and the surrounding areas, from the safety of their homes, which showed the sheer size and scale of the gorse fire.
Gorse fire up the hills tonight. #fire #dublinmountains @DubFireBrigade pic.twitter.com/PfaC8sb27C
— Karen (@kazzie9t9) May 17, 2020
The fire service received multiple tweets from people concerned about the welfare of the animals which live in the mountains, with one woman, Jennifer, contacting the DFB for reassurance for her young child.
"Hope everyone is safe up there," she said. "My 6 year old (almost 7 year old) cannot sleep and wants to know if all the animals and birds are ok.
"Third fire up there in the space of a few weeks. It's heartbreaking to see it."
Thankfully, a spokesperson for the DFB quickly got back to her and confirmed that "at present I haven't had any reports of animal injuries," adding "hope that helps with bedtime".
Fire on Dublin mountains. Burning for 4 hours and growing pic.twitter.com/1Sng7Wm6Zb
— Ellen Reynor (@ellen_rey) May 17, 2020
An Orange fire warning remains in place, with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine issuing a statement warning of "continued Atlantic high pressure dominated weather patterns and low rainfall levels".
