{"id":564318,"date":"2026-07-23T13:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/564318\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:54:12","slug":"slievenamon-wildfire-enters-fourth-day-as-firefighters-battle-blaze-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/564318\/","title":{"rendered":"Slievenamon wildfire enters fourth day as firefighters battle blaze \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Firefighters have resumed the battle against a wildfire on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary<\/a> that has entered its fourth day.<\/p>\n

The fire, which began on Monday morning, extended into an adjoining Coillte<\/a> forest area on Tuesday and spread significantly on Wednesday night, despite the efforts of ground crews supported by a helicopter.<\/p>\n

Crews were involved in overnight monitoring operations at the site.<\/p>\n

According to Tipperary County Council<\/a>, while \u201cconditions have stabilised and improved this morning after extensive ground and aerial firefighting efforts, fire services continue to monitor the area closely\u201d. The fire may get worse as temperatures rise during the day.<\/p>\n

Coillte personnel remain at the scene on Thursday, with crews from Tipperary Fire and Rescue Service and the Air Corps. Two helicopters are supporting operations from the air. <\/p>\n

It is too early to determine the cause of the fire or the full extent of the damage caused, Coillte said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Its communications manager Pat Neville asked people not to fly drones or visit the affected area of the mountain.<\/p>\n

Roads in the area are narrow so access is vital for fire crews, he told RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Morning Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"AA helicopter drops water on a wildfire on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary on Tuesday July 21st. Firefighters, supported by the Air Corps and Coillte, are continuing efforts to contain the blaze. Photograph: Phil Greaves <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re asking people to stay away from the area to keep the roads free to allow access for the emergency services and firefighting crews to access the site,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately it\u2019s a very large wildfire and it\u2019s visible from a large area away. It is quite a spectacle but we would really ask and urge the public not to approach the area at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neville said firefighting operations on Slievenamon would continue throughout the day. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe protection of the public safety and property remains the primary consideration for everyone involved in the response, and Tipperary fire service are continually assessing the risks to nearby properties and communities, and they\u2019ll deploy resources accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

A status orange high forest-fire risk warning has been issued nationally by the Department of Agriculture until 12pm on Friday.<\/p>\n

Tipperary County Council said on Wednesday afternoon that fire service personnel are engaging with \u201ca limited number\u201d of residents and property owners as \u201ca precautionary measure\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, it said there is \u201cno immediate threat to life\u201d at present, and householders would receive appropriate information and support.<\/p>\n

Residents, particularly those downwind of the blaze, have been told to keep windows and doors closed because of smoke, and vulnerable groups \u2013 including children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with respiratory or heart conditions \u2013 should take additional precautions to avoid exposure.<\/p>\n

\"HelicoptersHelicopters drop water on a wildfire on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary. Photograph: Phil Greaves <\/p>\n

People have also been asked to avoid the River Anner at Thorney Bridge, where emergency services are drawing water for the firefighting operations.<\/p>\n

One Slievenamon resident has told of how locals are offering fields and transport for livestock that have had to be moved because of the fires and smoke. <\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9\u2019s Today Show presented by Philip Boucher-Hayes, Rebecca Purcell said it had been a shock to see the fire creeping closer to her home and she never thought she would have to put passports and family photo albums into bags in anticipation of a possible evacuation.<\/p>\n

It had been incredible to watch everyone springing into action, she added. \u201cIt\u2019s just community, that\u2019s what it is, you rely on your community, people just self-organised, the farmers self-organised, people had machines just making sure that there was no overhanging trees around their houses, it was just incredible to watch, incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farmers had organised convoys of slurry tankers to bring water up into the forest to tackle the fires. \u201cThey were there all night, we could hear them at 3am, 4am, just in a constant convoy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Purcell described the situation as \u201cabsolutely terrifying\u201d and \u201chorrendous\u201d on one level, but it had been heartening to see the community come together<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re communities that live on Slievenamon and this mountain has a presence,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really important to us and to just see the destruction on the mountain, it\u2019s horrendous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciar\u00e1n Nugent, forestry inspector at the Department of Agriculture, said that the recent long dry spell had been problematic because high temperatures had dried off any moisture and as a result vegetation burned more easily and quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is bone dry now and the resulting fire is bigger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Neville extended thanks to communities for their support for fire and emergency services, providing refreshments. He also expressed frustration that fires like this happen. <\/p>\n

\u201cNone of these fires start naturally in Ireland. So there is a status orange high-risk forest fire warning in place for the whole country. It remains in place until tomorrow. So we\u2019re asking the public again to be really careful not to light any fires at all in the outdoors. No campfires, no barbecues. Be careful with cigarettes over the next coming days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would ask the public if you see a forest fire to call the emergency services immediately on 999 and never approach a forest fire either. They spread very quickly, the smoke gets thick very quickly and it can be very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Firefighters have resumed the battle against a wildfire on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary that has entered its fourth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49785,61,60,43,9123],"class_list":["post-564318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-coillte","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-tipperary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}