Elderly couple’s fear from smouldering forest fire

An elderly couple are living in fear that their home could be destroyed by a forest fire which has been smouldering for the past six weeks.

The East Galway couple have hit out at Coillte for not implementing the fire prevention measures to stop the blaze from spreading to neighbouring properties.

Paddy and Teresa Jennings have more than 70 acres under trees around their home near Killure, just a few miles from Ballinasloe, but a nearby Coillte forest has ignited during the recent dry spell.

The fire has been blazing for the past six weeks and has encroached on to neighbouring properties whose residents are keeping a round the clock vigil to ensure that their homes are not under threat.

Paddy Jennings told the Connacht Tribune that the fire on the Coillte forestry spread across around 15 acres and he expressed disappointment that the state agency hadn’t taken all steps to stop it spreading.

The couple, who are in their late seventies, say that they cannot leave their home because of the threat of the fire spreading.

“It is smouldering at the moment but any bit of wind could set it off again. It is a constant worry and has been for the past six weeks.

“We have been onto Coillte and it seems that they are not taking us seriously. We want them to put in fire breaks but they have only put in a very narrow one.

“The fire was very aggressive to begin with but it has slowed down over the past couple of weeks. It is still a major worry as the wind is expected to blow over the coming days which is a source of concern,” Paddy added.

The parents of three have spent a considerable amount of money in the provision of water tankers while they also have a digger on standby in the event of the blaze spreading.

During the dry spell over the past five week there there have been a number of gorse fires but the blaze across the bogs of Ahascragh are amongst the worst witnessed by locals.

The Jennings say that Coillte have no interest in putting fire breaks between the forestry and their property that is literally in the line of fire.

At the moment they have a tanker of water in their farmyard for fear of the fire spreading in their direction.

Roscommon-Galway TD Mick Fitzmaurice has visited their farm over the past few of days and has witnessed the pall of smoke from the Coillte lands spreading over to the Jennings property.

Cllr Michael Finnerty from Ballinasloe said that the state agency should not allow bog forestry fires to get out of control. He added that funding should be available to provide relief measures when required.

“From my understanding Coillte are turning a blind eye to this situation when they should maintain a permanent presence at the site to ensure that the fire does not spread,” the Fine Gael councillor added.

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