Wildfires accounted for more than half of all call-outs for the Donegal Fire Service in April this year.
Donegal’s fire brigades endured a very busy period fighting wildfires in recent months.
New figures show that, of the 116 Fire Brigade incidents recorded for the month of April in Donegal, 65 of those were wildfires – over 55%.
April and May are generally the busiest times of the year for wildfires and this coupled with the extremely dry weather conditions over the last few weeks have made for ideal conditions for wildfires to spread quickly.
The Donegal Fire Service was forced to make a number of interventions to try to limit the outbreaks of wildfires over this period.
The measures included public appeals for caution, placing a prohibition on ‘Controlled Burning’ during the high-risk periods and working closely with An Garda Síochána.