A senior fire service official has acknowledged that it will probably never be known what started a fire in Tipperary that has been burning on Slievenamon.
Carol Kennedy, acting assistant fire chief, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that crews from Clonmel, Cahir and Carrick-on-Suir are on site now, monitoring and assessing any damage that has been caused.
The fire started as a wild gorse fire and because vegetation “is like kindling at the moment” it extended into an oak plantation, but fire breaks kept it relatively contained.
Fire crews were taken off the mountain last night for their safety, she said.
“As you could understand when it gets dark, the conditions up there underfoot and everything can be quite dangerous. And there was very little we could do at that time of the night. So they retreated to the end of the mountain where the priority then was to protect life and property.
“It is still burning and there is still quite a lot of...
