West Cork restaurant owner charged over €6,000 for fire services after gorse fire 

A West Cork restaurant owner has said he will not pay a hefty bill of over €6,000 invoiced to him from Cork County Council for fire services after the Schull Fire Brigade was called to put out a gorse fire near his business premises.

Leo Bolger, proprietor of Bally Bia in Ballydehob, was landed with a bill for €6,116 after the Schull and Bantry Fire Brigades services were called to extinguish gorse fires in the area of Coomfarna, Durrus, and Bantry on March 4 this year.

Mr Bolger did not call the fire services on the day, and even assisted in putting out the blaze. 

In another incident, Birgit Eder was charged €2,464 after gorse fires approached her house in Goleen. She had called the Fire Brigade, who sent a crew from Dunmanway, but did not expect to be billed for the call out. Cork County Council has indicated that her bill is to be quashed.

On Wednesday, Mr Bolger posted the bill on the Bally Bia Facebook page. He described the sense of shock when the bill landed in his letterbox. 

“I had to read it two or three times to start with,” he said.

“When I read it, I realised straight away that I wasn’t liable. I didn’t start the fire. I didn’t call them. I was shocked but I just thought ‘this wasn’t right.’ Once things are checked, everything will be fine,” said Mr Bolger.

Mr Bolger said Ms Eder had called him to say her bill has been quashed. Mr Bolger has been in contact with an official from County Hall, who told him to write to the Cork County Council and they will investigate the matter.

Mr Bolger assisted in putting the fire out using large shovels to beat out the fire. “It was coming close to us," he explained. "The night before, was the biggest fire. My neighbour’s forest stopped that one. I thought the whole thing was gone, but there wasn’t enough leaf matter under the trees to continue burning. We were lucky enough," he added. At least two units of the Fire Brigade attended on the morning of March 4, in two visits. One call out was by Schull Fire Brigade for the period of 7.17am to 12.15pm, costing €3,278, and a second billing was for an assist from Bantry Fire Brigade, lasting from 7.57am until 12.15pm, and costing €2,838.

More units had been called the night before, and this continued into the morning as the blaze refused to die down.

“We had thought we had it under control and chased it back up the mountain but it came back down when we went to bed," explained Mr Bolger. "That whole weekend, there were fires. It’s been the worst year I’ve seen. There were Fire Brigades out everywhere trying to deal with it.” 

Mr Bolger said he thinks his name was used in a call out referring to the location of the fire, and an official mistakenly billed his address.

Bally Bia employs six to eight people. The bill matches a similarly hefty bill from ESB recently of around €6,000. 

Mr Bolger said he will not be paying the fire call-out bill. “I understand there is a chain of events but I just think in this circumstance, the optics of it are just terrible," he said. "They need to go after the people lighting them, not putting them out.

"I dread the burning season," he added.  "I have to go for a drive around, because we’re in the mountains and you can’t see where it’s started.” 

 Mr Bolger said it was “unbelievable” that the gorse fires are legally permissible during certain times of the year.

The Echo contacted Cork County Council for comment.