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Wildfires pushing firefighters to 'absolute limits'

BBC A firefighter is wearing a white helmet and a heavy beige jacket. Fire engines are parked behind him.BBC
NIFRS western area commander David Doherty says crews have been pushed to their "absolute limits" by a series of wildfires

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) has been pushed to "its absolute limits" by a spate of wildfires, a senior firefighter has warned.

Crews tackled more than 70 over the weekend across Northern Ireland, including a large gorse fire in County Londonderry.

Western area commander David Doherty said more than 75 firefighters and 10 appliances attended and extinguished the large gorse fire on Saturday, near Glenshane Road in the Sperrin Mountains, close to Maghera.

He said it was a particularly difficult operation due to the scale of the blaze across the mountain range and that his crews had faced a "really tough ten days".

A wildfire at night. Smoke is rising into the sky. The photo has been taken from a car.
Ten fire appliances, rotated throughout the day, attended a large gorse fire on the Glenshane Road in Maghera at the weekend

"There was over three and a half mile fire front at its height, so we couldn't get vehicles to it so crews had to make their way in by foot," Mr Doherty told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme on Monday.

"They had to carry all their equipment with them, and it was just very arduous for them in punishing conditions," he said.

"Take into consideration that this is one of the highest peaks in the Sperrins, so they were walking uphill through treacherous underfoot conditions."

He said there a huge effort was needed to bring the fire under control, with 10 appliances in place at an one time.

"They were being constantly rotated, and those were appliances from right across the province, working all day to tackle that fire," he said.

'Very punishing for our crews'

"This has been going on now for about ten days now, and it did push our crews to the absolute limits.

"Thankfully, there has been a turn in the weather now and things seem relatively quiet now."

He said most of the crews tackling these fires are "on-call" part-time firefighters.

"They work other jobs, sacrifice time with their families, and are used to responding in their own area, but they've been responding to calls right across Northern Ireland, sometimes not getting home until 12 or 14 hours later."

Mr Doherty said the majority of the wildfires had been started deliberately and appealed to the public to report anyone starting fires.