{"id":568963,"date":"2026-07-26T13:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/568963\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T13:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:12:10","slug":"firefighters-battling-to-extinguish-fires-on-slievenamon-targeted-by-thieves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/568963\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighters battling to extinguish fires on Slievenamon targeted by thieves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Firefighters battling to extinguish the fires on Slievenamon were targeted by thieves who ransacked their vehicles in the early hours of Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Cahir Fire Station firefighters were targeted as they fought wildfires<\/a> in Ballypatrick over the last several days. Cars, vans and jeeps parked outside the fire station were broken into on the fifth day of battling the fires.<\/p>\n

Tools they use for daily use were taken and some of the vehicles were damaged.<\/p>\n

Fires on Slievenamon have been raging since Monday last Independent councillor M\u00e1ir\u00edn McGrath from Cahir, Co Tipperary condemned the actions of thieves calling them \u201cselflsh lowlifes\u201d.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed are appealing for witnesses following \u201ca number of incidents of theft and criminal damage to motor vehicles parked on Barrack Street, Cahir, on Saturday morning between 12.30am and 1.30am.<\/p>\n

Any road users who were travelling in the vicinity of who may have camera footage, including dash-cam, are asked to make this footage available to garda.<\/p>\n

Cllr McGrath said the theft of firefirghter\u2019s belongings is \u201cso demoralising for our firefighters in Cahir Fire Station to have their vehicles at the station last night broken in to and some of their belongings stolen, while they continue to fight the fire on Slievenamon”.<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cThese selfless individuals haven\u2019t been home to their families for days while selfish lowlifes take advantage of them.<\/p>\n

McGrath described their behaviour as \u201cdisgusting\u201d. Local gardai confirmed that a number of the vehicles had been targeted by thieves at Cahir Fire Station.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe page<\/a> has been set-up in aid of the firefighters following the thefts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Local farmers transport tankers of water for spreading at ground level in an effort to tackle major wildfire as it continues to burn at Slievenamon in Co Tipperary. Photo: Brian Lawless\/PA Images<\/p>\n

Arthur Bielejewski, a friend of one of the firefighters, explained that a friend who works in the fire brigade called him to inform him about the thefts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile lads were on call fighting (the) wildfire for several days last night (Friday) they came back to the station to discover that someone had broken into their cars and robbed them. There are tools and personal belongings missing,\u201d Bielejewski said in an online statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese lads are ordinary working men like you and me. Their tools are now gone. (They) are here for us every day no matter the time (or) weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tipperary Fire and Rescue Service said they had a “tough evening” on Saturday as there were a lot of flare-ups.<\/p>\n

Following a reduction over recent days, the council said fire activity has increased once again on the southern side of Slievenamon.<\/p>\n

Although \u201ca number of hotspots remain, these continue to be closely monitored and managed by crews on the ground,\u201d the council added.<\/p>\n

On Sunday night, Tipperary County Council said firefighting efforts were continuing on Slievenamon as ground operations intensified.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrews remain active on the south side of the mountain, responding to flare-ups and hotspots, while monitoring continues across the wider area,\u201d the council said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Specialist equipment is supporting firefighters in challenging terrain, and a multi-agency response remains in place to contain and suppress fire activity. Smoke may be intermittently visible on the eastern side of Slievenamon.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents, particularly those with respiratory conditions, are being advised to take appropriate precautions if necessary.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Firefighters battling to extinguish the fires on Slievenamon were targeted by thieves who ransacked their vehicles in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-568963","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\/568963","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=568963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}