Hundreds of acres of a Proposed Special Area of Conservation \ have been destroyed by fire. Firefighters battled a raging fire that affected hundreds of acres of land on the Silvermines hills, at Silvermines West, in Co Tipperary yesterday.
The PSAC consisted of grassland, gorse, heather and woodland and was the habitat of peregrine falcon, hen harriers and grouse.
The fire, which began on Wednesday evening, engulfed forest and gorse land in a ring of flames.
More than 35 firefighters from stations throughout north Tipperary battled to control the fire as wind conditions worsened throughout Wednesday night and yesterday morning.
Extremely dry conditions and high breezes intensified the fire until approximately 6 a.m. when persistent rain fell. Gardaí controlled traffic in the rural area as carloads of locals travelled from Nenagh and other areas to view the spectacular fire.
Locals stopped to catch a glimpse of the fire, with flames reaching as high as 60 feet.
Firefighting conditions were extremely difficult as water had to be ferried from Silvermines village to the scene of the fire three miles away.
Efforts to contain the blaze were assisted by local farmers who pumped thousands of gallons of water from slurry tanks at blazing gorse threatening residential dwellings.
The fire engulfed hundreds of acres of mountainside,, but firefighters concentrated their efforts at Shallee, outside Silvermines village, where between 10 and 15 houses were in danger of being engulfed in flames.
Mr David Carroll, chief fire officer with North Tipperary Fire Service, said efforts were concentrated on the protection of homes close to the fire.
"We were concerned about 10 to 15 houses in the area. The immediate danger was that the fire could have spread along ditches, because of dry conditions and high breezes, to houses in the area," he said.
Mr Carroll confirmed that 70 acres of Coillte forestry were destroyed in the blaze.
He said it was difficult to estimate the full extent of damage, but speculated that the amount of land engulfed in flames could easily reach hundreds
of acres.
He could not confirm what the exact cause of the fire was but added that people should be vigilant if they were smoking or using naked flames in wooded or bogland areas.
He estimated that the firefighting service could have to find itself footing a bill of "thousands, if not tens of thousands of euro".