A major fire broke out in a field of corn in Craan, Ferns, Co Wexford, on Thursday 11 August at half four.

The blaze engulfed fields of standing grain, straw, bales, and local woodland, Wexford Fire Services told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Eight units of Wexford and Wicklow fire brigades responded along with special units for command and control, including water carriers.

Enniscorthy fire brigade responded to a "re-kindle" in this area again at around midnight and extinguished a small fire.

The fire in Ferns was one of five agricultural fires which took place in Co Wexford on Thursday, Ray Murphy of Wexford Fire Services told the Irish Farmers Journal.

"Wexford County Fire Service also responded to several farmland fires in Cushinstown, Crosstown, The Harrow and Kilmore," he explained.

The fires, Murphy said, were mainly related to farm machinery operating in the dry conditions harvesting and baling cereal crops.

The fire in Cushinstown took place at approximately 12:30 on Thursday when a baler went on fire igniting bales and straw.

Farmers helped put out the fire by ploughing a drill around the field creating a fire break and stopping the spread to further farmland, Murphy said.

At half three yesterday, two units from Enniscorthy fire brigade responded and assisted locals farmers who already had a fire at The Harrow under control with slurry tankers.

In Sarshill, Kilmore, at approx half two, a pair of units of Wexford fire brigade responded to a fire in a one acre field of standing grain. This effort was also assisted by farmers.

The final fire spread to the ditches of a field in Crosstown at half four where approximately two acres of straw was being raked ahead of baling.

Local farmers created a fire break around field with slurry tankers stopping the spread to further farmland. Farmers also threw water onto ditch avoiding further fire spread, according to Murphy.

"All resources were out at these fires yesterday. All our resources are town-based resources, so it could take 20 minutes for us to get out to the fire," Murphy said.

Mitigation

"Farmers are harvesting the field because the moisture has dropped to a certain level, but this is also a perfect condition for combustion," he said.

Regular checks and maintenance of machinery are extremely important during periods of fire warnings and hot weather, stressed Murphy.