{"id":586764,"date":"2026-07-15T10:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/586764\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:42:16","slug":"large-fire-at-killarney-national-park-caused-by-human-activity-minister-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/586764\/","title":{"rendered":"Large fire at Killarney National Park caused by \u2018human activity\u2019, Minister says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helicopters are again on their way to an area of Killarney National Park this morning where a wildfire, caused by \u201chuman activity\u201d and \u201cnot nature\u201d, burned 20 hectares of habitat last night. <\/p>\n

The N71 Ring of Kerry Road between Molls Gap and Muckross House remains closed again today following the large wildfire<\/a> in the Five Mile Bridge\/Moll\u2019s Gap area of the park over recent days. Alternative routes have been advised.<\/p>\n

Minister of State with special responsibility for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O\u2019Sullivan<\/a> said the fire was not a \u201cnatural disaster\u201d but had been caused by human activity. <\/p>\n

Several units of the Killarney fire service have been battling the blaze with firefighters from Kenmare, Killorglin and other towns alongside the National Parks and Wildlife Service.<\/p>\n

Two helicopters with water buckets also worked to bring it under control.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan said he took a \u201czero tolerance attitude\u201d towards people lighting fires in national parks and wild places. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor days, the National Parks and Wildlife Service has been battling fires, including incidents believed to have been started by the reckless use of disposable barbecues. This is utterly unacceptable,\u201d the Fianna F\u00e1il TD said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLighting fires or using disposable barbecues in a National Park or any wild area is not carelessness, it is gross irresponsibility \u2013 especially during a heatwave. It is a crime against nature, against local communities and against future generations who have the right to inherit these precious landscapes intact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo helicopters using buckets were deployed in Killarney National Park to assist ground crews in tackling the blaze. Photograph: Valerie O’Sullivan\/NPWS <\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan said people should \u201cleave these places as you found them or better, and leave no trace\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs Minister for Nature, I take a zero-tolerance attitude towards lighting fires in our national parks and wild places. The damage to biodiversity, wildlife, livelihoods and public safety can be \u2013 and too often is \u2013 catastrophic.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heartfelt thanks go to the NPWS staff, firefighters and emergency services who have worked tirelessly, often in extremely difficult conditions, to contain this fire and protect one of Ireland\u2019s greatest natural assets.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Eyes in the skies\u2019 and \u2018boots on the ground\u2019: Measures to stop wildfires this summerOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Dermot Brannigan, the chair of the Chief Fire Officers Association, encouraged the public to remain \u201cmindful, vigilant and careful\u201d when out in natural habitats during the current warm weather and to be conscious of the impact of human actions.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Morning Ireland in reaction to a number of fires in counties Kerry, Cork and Westmeath, Brannigan said most of the fires had been accidentally started, with people discarding glass or disposable barbecue sets not being extinguished and discarded properly. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe message that we need to get across this morning, and for the next number of weeks during this lovely fine weather spell that we are having, is that we be mindful and be vigilant and be careful when you\u2019re out in our natural habitat, and be conscious of the impact that it can have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most local authority fire services have responded to a significant number of gorse fires in the last number of weeks due to this prolonged spell of dry weather, he said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe affected area includes a mixture of dry heath, wet heath and blanket bog along with pockets of native old oak woodland. Photograph: Valerie O’Sullivan\/NPWS <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is anticipated that if this spell of dry weather continues, that we will have to respond to a number of similar types of calls, albeit that most of these incidents are relatively small and localised in nature, involving predominantly gorse and grassland,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Brannigan explained that with prolonged periods of dry weather, the susceptibility to fire increases. \u201cI would be mindful that Ireland is not like Europe in many ways, or central Europe. In our vegetation generally, the sap rises between maybe March and May, which is probably the most vulnerable periods for the fire service, gorse fire periods.<\/p>\n

\u201cA prolonged period, and I\u2019m speaking in periods of several weeks, can intensify the ignitability of gorse or wildland, and then hence cause the fire very quickly. And I think the upland nature of any particular fire, or prolonged exposure to fire, can intensify very quickly. So wind, heat, all have an intensifying factor in relation to fires of this particular nature.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Helicopters are again on their way to an area of Killarney National Park this morning where a wildfire,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,49772,18,13,14,6,19,17,957,9824,64626,11,12,15,16,31340,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-586764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-christopher-osullivan","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kerry","tag-kerry-county-council","tag-killarney","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-national-parks-and-wildlife-service","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116923581031519883","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586764","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=586764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}