Galway Bay fm newsroom - The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has issued a stark warning on illegal fires as a massive forest fire continues to burn in Connemara.
Last evening, plumes of smoke from the blaze drifted across the city and Salthill and were eventually carried as far east as Loughrea.
Coillte says the forest fire at Cloosh is threatening the welfare of many homes - while Galway Fire Service is onsite at Galway Wind Park to tackle fires in close proximity to vital infrastructure.
In a statement, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht warns landowners that it is a criminal offence to burn any vegetation growing on uncultivated land between March 1st and August 31st.
However, in a separate statement, Birdwatch Ireland says there is little to no enforcement of both national and EU regulations designed to protect wildlife and habitats.
So far, around 1,500 hectares of forestry and 2,000 of bog land in the Cloosh Valley area has been destroyed - an area five times the size of Dublin's Phoenix Park.
Speaking to Keith Finnegan, Ciaran Fallon of Coillte said the Connemara blaze is an extremely dangerous one.
