Fire crews from across Clare battled for up to ten hours to bring a major gorse fire under control overnight.
The blaze spread across hundreds of acres of scrubland between The Hand and Coore yesterday afternoon and also threatened a number of properties
A spokesperson for the Fire Services described it as one of the worst blazes they have dealt with in a number of years.
The alarm was raised shortly after 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon when a sizeable gorse fire broke out on several kilometres of scrubland either side of the Ennis to Miltown Malbay road between The Hand and Coore East.
It forced Gardaí to close off a section of road due to the poor visibility from the thick smoke.
Fire crews from Ennistymon initially attended the scene but were soon backed up by fire officers from Ennis, Kilrush and Shannon due to the extent of the blaze which engulfed one farmers shed and threatened a number of other properties.
Fire fighters brought the flames under control late last night and were finally able to leave the scene shortly after one am- A spokesperson for the fire services told Clare FM that it was one of the worst gorse fires they have attended in several years.
Separately in East Clare – Fire officers from Killaloe attended separate blazes in Ogonnelloe and Twomilegate- The first gorse fire broke out in Ogonnelloe yesterday afternoon and fire crews were forced to return to it again later.
They at 9 pm then attended another gorse fire on scrubland between Killaloe and Tuamgraney and were able to leave the scene just after 11pm.
These incidents came just days after Clare Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly issued a stark warning about illegal burning and forest, bog and gorse fires.
