English: Hundreds of gorse fires have been burning across Ireland for the better part of a month. Gorse is a wildflower that is native to Ireland, grows abundantly all over the island, and is quite invasive. Large stands of gorse coupled with extremely dry conditions create ideal conditions for wildfire – and it has been very dry this spring. Rainfall has been about 75 percent less than average since the beginning of April this year.

Fires have sprung up in abundance since the first of May. According to the North Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS), 511 gorse fires were reported, and required response, between May 1 and May 8, 2017. 466 of these had been started deliberately. Not all deliberately-set fires are arson. Fire may be used to manage farmland, such as to clear cropland or renew pasturage and such agricultural fires can slip out of control and create wildfire. Because of the risk of fast-spreading wildfire, it is illegal to set fires between March 1 and August 31.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite flew over Ireland and captured a true-color image on May 8, 2017. Red hot spots mark areas where the thermal sensors on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with smoke, as in this image, such hot spots mark actively burning fires. Large clusters of fires are located throughout the country, many on the exterior of the island. One of the most significant fires, however, is in Cloosh Valley, Galway. As of May 10, when the fire was declared essentially under control, over 1,500 hectares of forest and 2,000 hectares of bogland had been consumed by the blaze.