Preventing Wildfires

Dublin is surrounded by fantastic natural amenities and popular places to visit during weekends and fine weather. Unfortunately, wildfires occur more frequently as human activity in these areas increases.

Wildfires, also known as vegetation or gorse fires, can spread rapidly and cause significant damage to land and property. They also demand a lot of firefighting resources to be extinguished.

Here are Dublin Fire Brigade's tips for preventing and mitigating the impact of wildfires.

How to Prevent Wildfires

You can help stop wildfires by:

• Not lighting camp fires.
• Not using disposable or re-useable barbecues outside of designated areas.
• Disposing of smoking materials in a responsible manner.
• Leaving no trace. It is important to take your litter home as the sun’s energy can be magnified through glass bottles and litter can be set on fire by opportunistic arsonists.
• Reporting suspicious or anti-social behaviour to An Garda Síochána at the earliest opportunity.
• Not parking on grass verges, because your car’s exhaust system could start a fire.
• Parking responsibly. Illegal and irresponsible parking can delay our response times and stop us getting to fires quickly.

Controlled Burning and the Wildlife Act

The controlled burning of land is a common practice in rural settings. However, it is not permitted at certain times of the year.

Under Section 40 of the Wildlife Act, 1976 (amended by Section 46 of the Wildlife Act, 2000), it is an offence to burn any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated from 1st March to 31st August in any year. This aims to reduce wildfire incidents.

Parties found guilty of this offence may have grants they receive from Government departments reviewed.

What to do if there is a Wildfire

If there is a wildfire:

• Don’t attempt to fight the fire yourself.
• Retreat to a safe location.
• Call 112 or 999 immediately. The quicker we know about the fire, the quicker we can deal with it. Don’t assume someone else has called us.
• If you don’t know exactly where you are, describe a landmark or building that you can meet our firefighters at.

Fire Prevention Programmes

Making Dublin safe from fires and other emergencies is at the heart of what we do. Dublin Fire Brigade runs a number of fire safety programmes, including schools programmes and safety talks, which aim to get the community involved in the prevention of fires.

If you would like a fire officer to visit your community, school or workplace, please get in touch.