{"id":565128,"date":"2026-07-24T00:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T00:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/565128\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T00:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T00:47:11","slug":"slievenamon-wildfire-could-burn-for-days-chief-fire-officer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/565128\/","title":{"rendered":"Slievenamon wildfire could burn for days, chief fire officer says"},"content":{"rendered":"

It could take \u201cdays\u201d to extinguish the large wildfire burning on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary, the area\u2019s chief fire officer has said.<\/p>\n

Crews have spent a fourth day tackling the blaze on the mountain in the south of the county, which spread to an adjoining forest on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Air Corps has provided aerial support, including dropping water on the flames from helicopters in a bid to stop them spreading.<\/p>\n

John Shinners, the county\u2019s chief fire officer, said: \u201cIt\u2019s proven difficult to access and proven difficult to extinguish, just by the nature of the terrain that\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the fire is still ongoing, and with the weather conditions expected for the days to come, it\u2019s expected to be a live fire for quite a number of days yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cMother Nature can work against you and with you, so she\u2019s kind of working against us at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be really, really great if she gave us a couple of thunderstorms \u2013 that would really help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the fire is making its way through the fuel available, \u201cthere\u2019s definitely a number of days in it\u201d, Mr Shinners said.<\/p>\n

He said a minimum of 16 firefighters are on site at all times, which can be \u201cboosted\u201d during the day when needed.<\/p>\n

He said morale among teams is \u201cquite high\u201d and they are taking structured breaks, are being provided with food and getting adequate sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone that wants to head home, they can, but they\u2019re all choosing to kind of stay on site and help with the efforts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The fire service is regularly assessing homes and buildings housing livestock, Mr Shinners said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe place our vehicles and our personnel appropriately then, and we alter our operational plan to factor in where those homes are located, what direction the fire is going in etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

While no properties are currently in danger, he said it is an issue under \u201cconstant review\u201d.<\/p>\n

People living in the wider area, particularly those downwind, are being advised to keep windows and doors closed and, where possible, move animals away from smoke-affected areas.<\/p>\n

Vulnerable people including children, pregnant and older people and those with respiratory or heart conditions have been told they should take extra precautions.<\/p>\n

Throughout the week, members of the public have been asked to stay away from the area and not to fly drones there.<\/p>\n

Shinners said that while the number of drones has \u201ceased off\u201d, and most people are \u201cobeying the rules\u201d, others have continued to arrive, which can cause issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could just be a wrong vehicle parked in the wrong place at the wrong time, preventing one of our vehicles trying to get through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday afternoon, a change in the wind direction caused the fire to spread to an adjoining Coillte forest and additional resources were brought in.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 radio on Thursday morning, Coillte communications manager Pat Neville said it had \u201cprogressed significantly through the forest yesterday night, despite the best efforts of crews\u201d.<\/p>\n

He told the Morning Ireland programme the \u201cimmediate focus\u201d is on containing the fire as \u201cquickly and as safely as possible\u201d, adding it is \u201ctoo early\u201d to assess the damage to the forest.<\/p>\n

Describing the fire as \u201csignificant and very large\u201d, he said it could cause \u201cextensive\u201d ecological damage to wildlife and habitats, and it could take \u201cyears\u201d for the area to recover.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cnone of these fires start naturally in Ireland\u201d and pointed to the status orange high forest fire risk warning which remains in effect until Friday.<\/p>\n

He added that the countryside is \u201cbone dry\u201d and asked the public not to light any outdoor fires.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Tractors<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Tractors and tankers used by local farmers to help tackle wildfire<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Even a small fire can \u201cget out of control very quickly and can have very serious consequences\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

The council has asked the public to avoid the River Anner at Thorney Bridge as emergency services are using that stretch of river to draw the water they need to fight the fire.<\/p>\n

It also called on the public not to rely on unofficial reports or speculation regarding the incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It could take \u201cdays\u201d to extinguish the large wildfire burning on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary, the area\u2019s chief…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-565128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565128","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=565128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}