{"id":585796,"date":"2026-07-14T20:40:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/585796\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:40:18","slug":"ive-never-dealt-with-something-like-this-cork-firefighters-tackle-absolute-monster-gorse-blaze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/585796\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’ve never dealt with something like this’: Cork firefighters tackle ‘absolute monster’ gorse blaze\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cork firefighters have described the gorse blaze near\u00a0Camden Fort Meagher<\/a> on Monday as an \u201cabsolute monster\u201d that threatened several homes.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed are investigating the possibility of arson. Approximately 2,500sq m of land was scorched by the\u00a0fire<\/a>, which was on a patch of ground below the Crosshaven tourist attraction and close to homes outside the village.<\/p>\n

\" Smoke from the fire partially obscuring Camden Fort Meagher. Picture: Eddie O’Hare<\/p>\n

The fire, which raged across cliffside vegetation, is now being investigated by garda\u00ed. It is believed that the fire may have been accidentally started by a group of teenagers.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed launch investigation<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na confirmed that an investigation has since been launched, adding that \u201cenquiries are ongoing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Paul Brierly, the station officer with Crosshaven Fire Service, told The Echo that the blaze posed a threat to at least 30 properties in the area, prompting a multi-agency response from fire crews across the city and county.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat to property was off the walls,\u201d said Mr Brierly.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe were dealing with an absolute monster when we got there \u2014 the easterly wind, which was unusual and strong, was fanning the flames.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was so much at stake \u2014 houses were only 50m from the fire, and you couldn\u2019t see your hands in front of your face.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came within two feet of the first nearby house, so that became a huge priority early on. There were plastic drain pipes… that all melted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FireFire fighters battling the gorse fire near Camden Fort Meagher. Picture: Eddie O’Hare<\/p>\n

Mr Brierly said that units from the Crosshaven, Kinsale, and Carrigaline fire services, alongside crews from the Cork City Fire Brigade, battled the blaze on the ground, while members of the Irish Coast Guard and a crew from the Doyle Shipping Group worked to extinguish the flames from a vantage point at sea.<\/p>\n

Beyond normal<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very hairy at the start. I realised within two minutes of arriving that we were dealing with something that was beyond normal capabilities \u2014 we had to move quickly,\u201d said Mr Brierly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a plume of smoke about five miles long, we were overwhelmed by it.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn my 25 years of experience… I have never dealt with something like this.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are houses on Camden Rd and more on the lower level on Point Rd, split by this no-mans-land, this scrub of dried-out vegetation, and given the exceptional weather conditions, it was like a tinder box.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pumping 320 litres of water per minute across eight lines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Inter-agency teamwork<\/p>\n

He said it was about 9.30pm or 10pm before he felt any bit of relief. \u201cWe were under a lot of pressure, but we had great inter-agency teamwork, between not only the fire services but the coastguard, garda\u00ed, and residents too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was concerned at first, my heart was thumping for the first two hours, but it came together in the end, with no loss of life and no damage to property.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Brierly said while the blaze had been extinguished, crew members remained at the site until 1am undertaking dampening measures, with six firefighters returning to the scene at 8am yesterday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could stay here for a week dealing with it, or it could go out by itself in the next 24-36 hours, but there are no flames at this point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork firefighters have described the gorse blaze near\u00a0Camden Fort Meagher on Monday as an \u201cabsolute monster\u201d that threatened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[781,9,10,248759,129073,18,5860,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-585796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-cork-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-cork-fire","tag-crosshaven","tag-eire","tag-emergency-services","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116920270149477173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}