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There are only three days remaining to legally burn gorse or scrub areas, but the Irish Wildfire Network has warned farmers that cool, dry weather may increase the risk of planned burning going out of control.
There is a real risk of people getting hurt
“Burning might still be legal, but all the law in the world is no match for dry fuel and high winds,” the Wildfire Network stated on its Facebook page.
“There is a real risk of people getting hurt when attempting burning in these conditions.”
Met Éireann has predicted that temperatures are expected to drop across the country later this week and has already issued a status orange warning, with snow expected in the east of the country on Tuesday.
Closed period
Many farmers will be disappointed by the Wildfire Network warning, as unseasonably wet weather up until this point meant that many farmers were hoping to burn land this week before the closed period.
Last week, it came to light that a proposed pilot period to extend the hedge-cutting and controlled gorse burning dates into March had yet to be passed, with the bill not due to be debated until April, which is two months after the closed period begins.
Department warning
The Department of Agriculture has also issued a condition red – extreme fire risk warning ahead of the closed period.
The 'beast from the east' or Storm Emma as the weather front has now been named, is forecast to induce moderate easterly airflows, low temperatures and very low air humidity levels over Ireland.
The Department has warned that where these conditions persist, and in the absence of significant precipitation they are likely to produce an extreme fire danger risk in westernmost coastal areas where hazardous fuels exist, and where precipitation and humidity levels are likely to be lowest.
These western locations are also associated with a strong human ignitions risk.
Fine fuel moisture code levels are currently indicated above the upper threshold limit of 80 and are forecast to rise beyond this level further in coming days.
Meteorological risks are likely to be compounded further by human ignition risks associated with the end of the open burning season, which ends on 28 February.
Based on observed fire activity to date, the Department said that there is a strong risk and likelihood that landowners may try to utilise current dry weather conditions to complete burning operations in advance of the closed date.
Current weather conditions are outside general prescription limits for safe prescribed burning.
Pending further review, this risk condition will remain in place until 12.00 on Friday, 2 March and will revert to condition orange at this point until further notice.
The Department advises that under extreme fire risk conditions any ignition source in hazardous fuels will give rise to rapid and unpredictable wildfire development and spread.
Under these conditions, the Department said in upland situations fire can be expected to cover extensive areas and pose extreme difficulties to suppression efforts and may potentially likely give rise to major emergency scenarios.
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