Council official rules out ban for BBQs and campfires despite prediction of more hot summers

A senior Cork County Council official has ruled out introducing temporary bylaws to ban barbecues and campfires at beaches, parks and other local authority amenity areas during hot weather.

The news caught a number of councillors by surprise, especially when the official added the local authority could mount a public safety campaign on social media to remind people of the potential dangers of letting recreational fires get out of control.

Fianna Fáil councillor Audrey Buckley got cross-party support when calling on officials to ‘introduce or amend current bylaws to allow a temporary ban on barbecues, disposable BBQs, open fires and other ignition sources on beaches and in public recreational areas during periods of high fire risk’.

Ms Buckley said a gorse fire in July which nearly engulfed Camden Fort Meagher and nearby houses in Crosshaven, was “a warning sign” such incidents are likely to become far more common.

It’s believed it may have been accidentally started by a group of partying teenagers.

“I also came across a (different) fire at 10pm one night (in Crosshaven). It was still burning and there was nobody around. We need to be preventing such danger more proactively,” Ms Buckley said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Donovan said the fire near the fort came frighteningly close to some houses and they were only saved by the prompt action of several fire brigades. 

Units from Cork City, Kinsale, Carrigaline and Crosshaven tackled the fire on land while the coastguard and a Doyle Shipping crew doused it from the seaborne side.

Just after the incident Paul Brierly, the fire station officer in Crosshaven, said there was a threat to 30 properties and described the blaze when they arrived as “an absolute monster.”

Around 2,500sqm of mainly cliffside scrubland was scorched.

Kinsale’s Fine Gael councillor Marie O’Sullivan said they’d been potentially serious incidents in her locality and urged officials “to come down heavy and hard on this issue.”

However, Niall Healy, assistant council ceo, said while there’s heightened fire risk its current bylaws don’t contain a provision for temporary restrictions.

Therefore, he said, during periods of dry weather and elevated fire risk, the council ‘will provide appropriate public information and advisories to encourage precautionary measures, promote public safety and raise awareness of the risks associated with fires.”