Fires on The Mourne Mountains visible from space

An amber weather alert persists across Northern Ireland due to ongoing wildfires, with emergency crews actively responding to incidents spanning the Mourne Mountains in County Down.

As dry conditions are expected to last through the weekend, the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) is urging the public to remain alert to fire hazards.

Between Thursday and Saturday, NIFRS logged 741 calls to its Regional Control Centre, with 146 concerning gorse fires.

Over the weekend, 15 fire appliances and more than 100 firefighters were deployed to combat wildfires in the Silent Valley and Ben Crom regions near Newcastle.

NIFRS Chief Fire & Rescue Officer Aidan Jennings reported, “To ensure safety, several residents were evacuated from their homes along Sandbank and Kilbroney roads while we worked to contain the fire. By around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 6, we began reducing our presence. Evidence suggests this blaze was intentionally started.”

On Sunday, just before noon, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite captured images of smoke rising from Slieve Bearnagh in the Mourne Mountains.

The latest incidents come just days after a fire was extinguished near Spelga Dam in the Mourne Mountains and other fires on Slieve Binnian during the previous week.

Elsewhere, there have been fires in the Glens of Antrim, Bridgetown and Doonbeg in Clare, the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone, Killarney in Kerry, and in West Cavan.

The Republic of Ireland is also currently under a Status Orange High Forest Fire Risk Warning.

The alert has been put in place due to forecast dry weather and moderate easterly winds, following a drier-than-average March.

Under Irish law, the cutting, grubbing, burning, or other destruction of vegetation growing on “any land not then cultivated” is prohibited between 1st March and 31st August annually.