Wicklow Braced Once More As Coillte Signal Orange Fire Warning

Public is warned against fires or barbecues in forests or recreational areas, no blocking of emergency access routes, extra vigilance around dry vegetation

Coillte has issued a Status Orange High Forest Fire Risk warning, in effect until 12pm on Monday, July 13th, urging the public to steer clear of barbecues and open fires in forests and recreational areas.

For most of the country it's a seasonal precaution. For Wicklow, it's a warning with recent scars behind it.

The Wicklow uplands have already had a difficult year. In late May, a blaze broke out on open hillside at Piperstown, near the Glenasmole Valley — technically within the boundary of Wicklow Mountains National Park, on the Dublin side of the range.

By the time Dublin Fire Brigade, working alongside the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Coillte personnel, brought it under control roughly 24 hours later, it had burned through an area equivalent to around 50 Croke Parks.

Strong winds and dense stands of gorse on the site allowed the fire to spread extremely quickly — conditions that firefighting sources have pointed to repeatedly when explaining why upland gorse fires are so hard to contain once they take hold. The park's manager noted the fire was the third in the area this year, ending a two-year run without a major incident, following two smaller fires earlier in the year that were described as deliberately lit.

That episode drew a sharp response from Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O'Sullivan, who called it "utterly reckless" and highlighted that it put homes and lives at risk while diverting emergency services away from other duties. NPWS staff also reported destroyed nests of pipits and larks — a particularly costly loss given the fire hit during nesting season.

It wasn't an isolated case. In 2023, a campfire at Crone Wood devastated 95 hectares of dry heath within the national park and a further 25 hectares of Coillte forestry.

Wicklow's Chief Fire Officer at the time flagged a knock-on danger that's easy to overlook: when crews are tied up tackling a mountain fire, response times for ordinary emergencies — house fires, road traffic accidents — in the towns below inevitably suffer.

Why upland terrain makes this warning different

The Orange notice's core asks — no fires or barbecues in forests or recreational areas, no blocking of emergency access routes, extra vigilance around dry vegetation — carry extra weight on ground like the Wicklow Mountains for a few reasons:

• Access is harder. Gorse- and heather-covered slopes are difficult for fire crews and appliances to reach quickly, which is exactly why the warning stresses not blocking access routes with parked cars.

• The fuel burns fast. Dense, dry gorse was the specific factor cited in how rapidly the Piperstown fire spread once it caught.

• The ecological cost is high and slow to repair. Habitat loss during nesting season, as seen with the pipit and lark nests destroyed in May, isn't something that recovers within a season.

• There's already a standing legal restriction. Separate from Orange-level warnings, legislation bans the cutting, burning, or destruction of vegetation on hedges, ditches, or uncultivated land between March 1st and August 31st each year, specifically to reduce wildfire risk during dry weather and the nesting season. There are no exemptions.

A trend, not a one-off

Officials and scientists tracking the pattern see this as more than a single bad summer. A climate scientist quoted in recent coverage of Ireland's wildfire response noted that rising temperatures mean the country can expect more frequent periods of elevated wildfire risk.

There's also explicit concern about not sliding back toward the conditions of roughly 25 years ago, when at least 20 fires a year were recorded in the broader Wicklow area.

For now, the message from Coillte is the familiar one: no fires, no barbecues, park sensibly, stay alert around dry ground, and call 112 immediately if a fire is spotted. Given what's already happened on these hills this year, it's advice worth taking literally rather than treating as background noise.