The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NWPS) has teamed up with Coillte to tackle forest fires using innovative drone technology.

Coillte recorded 150 fire incidents last year which affected more than 600 acres of forestry.

In order to combat this problem, the two bodies have called in the help of Ian Kiely and Keith Tracey from Drone Consultants Ireland, who will survey the fires as they happen, providing invaluable data to the various services tackling the blazes.

Pat Neville, Coillte communications manager, said: “Most forest fires in Ireland don’t start naturally. A lot of incidents occur as a result of careless lighting of barbecues, campfires and burning of land too near to a forest.

"A lot of these forests are owned by farmers. We don’t want to see these investments and hard work literally going up in smoke.”

Neville believes the drones “can be used in high-risk areas and try to spot fires early. We will be able to see the extent of them and know where to send the firefighting crews in”.

Damien Clarke, district conservation officer with the NPWS, said: “The pilot scheme will be rolled out for Coillte forests initially but in future we hope to use these drones on all land as fires can easily spread from forest to forest regardless of ownership.”

Farmers are reminded that burning vegetation on land that is not cultivated is prohibited between 1 March and 31 August.

An orange fire warning is in place until Sunday 19 May.

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