Destructive blazes that ravaged West Donegal over the weekend may have been deliberate, a county council spokesman said.
Wildfires raged across the region scorching land and devastating wildlife between the villages of Annagry Belcruit and Loughanure.
“We don’t know for definite as to what happened”, Director of emergency services at Donegal County Council Gary Martin told RTE’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday.
“Fires tend not to happen by accident”, he said. “They can either be started accidentally or maliciously and we’re not quite sure on Friday or yesterday what happened."
Mr Martin appealed to the public “not to do anything that could cause fires to ignite in the outdoor arena” as warm conditions continued.
Busy road in Co Kerry reopens after firefighters extinguish gorse blaze near Killarney
Describing the level of destruction as “incredible” he said it was “very fortunate in that there was no loss of life or injury to anyone there”.
“But the loss to the wildlife and the flora and the fauna is incalculable”, he added.
As the flames spread local people feared for their homes and businesses and attempted to battle the blazes themselves alongside local emergency response.
Donegal Fianna Fåil TD Pat the Cope Gallagher slammed the Air Corp’s response time in joining fire fighting efforts and has called for an investigation into the service to be launched.
The Leas Cheann Comhairle claimed that after being notified of the situation at 9:30 am, it took seven hours for air services to respond.
“What is devastating for all of us involved in this sequence of events is that it took 7 hours to get the helicopter on site”, he said.
“Critical and crucial time was lost whereby the fire could have been better managed had the numerous firefighters and local volunteers got the Aer Corp support”.
Defence Forces brought in to help firefighters battle gorse blaze in Co Donegal
The Air Corps defended their response time explaining that the air fire fighting response is not a dedicated resource and takes time to assemble.
Spokesman Captain Kevin Fitzgerald said: “The fire fighting is not the primary task so when we got the tasking we had to mobilise a crew we don't really have the resources for a dedicated fire fighting aircraft service."
“That morning period would have been spent chasing down crews ringing people.
“People had to come from all four corners of the country really to get the aircraft into the air”.
He said firefighting form the air was a “relatively high risk operation” and that responders needed to be fully briefed before entering the danger zone.
He added: “It isn’t something that can be launched when it’s not a dedicated service."
