Bad weather hampers attempts to prevent serious fire damage on state forest plantations.
Firemen and forestry workers attempt to fight fire outbreaks at three State forestry plantations in County Mayo. Efforts to prevent serious damage to the forests are hampered by gale force easterly winds.
The first of the blazes, believed to have been started deliberately, swept through portion of a state plantation near the railway station at Foxford .
Four acres of young and five and six year old trees were destroyed.
Local fire units took five hours to get the blaze under control. While engaged in this operation, another blaze broke out one mile away at Shraheen, threatening to destroy a small forest. A number of acres of plantations were also destroyed near Castlebar.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 21 February 1978. The reporter is Dermot Mullane.
