Monaghan Fire and Civil Protection has advised farmers to undertake a risk assessment prior to notifying their local authority of controlled burning.

The advice follows a series of wildfires across the island of Ireland, which has seen hundreds of hectares of upland and SPA areas scorched.

It is an offence to carry out controlled burning of land or vegetation between 1 March and 31 September of any year.

Controlled burning is used to describe the planned and deliberate use of fire as a land management tool.

Fire safety advice note

If you answer no to any of the above or have even the slightest doubt about any of these answers, the advice is to not burn.

Monaghan Fire and Civil Protection has said the aim of the fire safety advice note is to bring to the attention of landowners important and necessary information surrounding the minimum requirements when considering to undertake controlled burning.

Wildland, gorse and forest fires can be described as uncontrolled and unwanted fire in an area of combustible vegetation that usually starts in rural areas.