On a windy Sunday on the west side of County Cork, Ireland, satellite hotspots were highlighting what firefighters were facing in person, with reports of nearly 100 fires breaking out in gorse and related fuels, beginning February 26 and burning into the next morning.
Significant nighttime fire growth in highly flammable gorse brush threatened a radar and aviation-control installation and involved six West Cork fire brigades and other resources, including the Irish Aviation Centre firefighters on Mount Gabriel.
The burning of vegetation from March 1 through August 31 is a violation of the Wildlife Acts, but a spokesperson for Cork County Council warned that intentionally set fires during last weekend’s winds threatened houses, a radar installation, livestock and wildlife, not to mention the risk to firefighters and the drawdown of resources for other emergencies.
Twitter correspondents also captured the flames.
Firefighters have been praised for saving a critical aviation radar installation from a massive wildfire last night.
The Mount Gabriel blaze was one of 20 wildfires on the Mizen & Beara peninsulas to stretch firefighting resources this weekend. #Cork https://t.co/AybkSQqn3Z— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) February 27, 2023
West Cork gorse fires came close to knocking out air traffic control radar on Mount Gabriel: Several homes were also endangered by the wildfires https://t.co/yMrZzaqp84
— Andy Scollick (@Andy_Scollick) February 27, 2023
For additional news reports, see https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2023/0227/1359220-gorse-fires-cork/ and https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41081189.html.
Along the west coast of the United States, gorse is a an invasive that also exhibits extreme fire behavior.
