Thousands of acres of Killarney National Park were in flames today as fire crews, national park personnel, and an Air Corps helicopter tried to contain a huge blaze on the southern and western edges of the park.
The Irish Air Corps' AW139 aircraft has now finished operations for the night.
Commandant Jay O'Reilly of the Air Corps No 3 Operations Wing described the fire as being one of the "more intense" that he has seen in recent years.
Comdt O'Reilly told RTÉ News that "it was quite challenging as there were a number of separate fires all throughout the Eagles Nest area... just south of Killarney town".
The aircraft's 'Bambi Bucket' can air drop up to 1,270 litres of water at a time.
"We had a good water source in the National Park and we were able to use that to fight the various pockets of fire that we came across in the area," Comdt O'Reilly said.
"We're finished for today, we had good effect down there between us and the local fire service working together, we managed to suppress an awful lot of the fire that was there.
"We are going to see how it goes overnight and we have crews ready to recommence fire fighting again in the morning," he added.
Along the western side of Killarney town, mountain tops were red and smoke was billowing over them today. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
The extent of the environmental and ecological damage to #Killarney National Park is stark from the air. The crew of @IrishAirCorps @defenceforces AW139 has returned to Baldonnel for the night. The sad reality is, their services will probably be required again tomorrow. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/YYavV5lNV1
— Paschal Sheehy (@PaschalSheehy) April 24, 2021
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it was "devastating" to see the damage caused by the fire at Killarney National Park.
In a post on Twitter, he thanked the emergency services for their "incredible concerted effort" to control the blaze.
1. A large fire & very serious is burning in Killarney National Park. @npwsBioData staff & the Fire Brigade are currently on site dealing with the incident. We are asking members of the public to avoid areas of the Park listed below until further notice: pic.twitter.com/3DdDiL8wZj
— Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage (@DeptHousingIRL) April 24, 2021
Earlier this afternoon, the fire appeared to have devoured the native oakwoods which had just sprung into leaf at the foot of the Eagles Nest despite the best efforts of fire services.
From Ladies View south, the landscape that was lush with spring is now blackened and charred.
A status orange high forest fire risk warning is in place on one of the hottest days of 2021. In Kerry the Air Corps joined a major operation to tackle a blaze in Killarney National Park, and in Down a major incident was declared on the Mourne mountains | https://t.co/ko27lfbdAx pic.twitter.com/hhNknX9lDE
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 24, 2021
The fire which broke out at midnight, had at one stage been largely contained, but was suddenly fanned by a strong early afternoon breeze.
Mayor of Kerry, Cllr Patrick Connor-Scarteen, said: "This is absolutely shocking to see a fire so bad in the National Park. The destruction of wildlife and habitat already is huge."
The Hen Harrier Project said an active hen harrier nest was destroyed by the fire while hunting grounds for three other pairs were lost.
We can confirm that an active Hen harrier nest was destroyed in yesterdays fire in Kerry and that the hunting grounds for 3 other pairs have been lost. Countless other animals were killed. We need a co-ordinated approach to deal with this. pic.twitter.com/CAfQYJeIzS
— Hen Harrier Project (@HenHarrierProj) April 24, 2021
Thousands of bird nests are believed to have been destroyed and two eagles were seen circling from the smoke over the Long Range River.
In a statement earlier today, the Department of Housing and Heritage paid tribute to the fire crews and the NPWS and asked the public to avoid a whole area of the N71.
Additional reporting: Laura Fletcher
