20% drop in gorse fires call outs in Kerry

There was a 20% drop in the number of gorse fires Kerry Fire Service attended in the first five months of the year.

All call outs are down 15% between January and May, compared to the same time last year.

Kerry Fire Service was called out 534 times from the start of January up to the end of May, a 15% drop on the same time last year when there were 629 mobilisations.

They attended 151 gorse fires during that period, down from 189 for the same time last year, a 20% decrease.

Chimney fires were at 42, compared to 47 last year, a drop of 10%, while road traffic collisions were at 36, down from 54 for the same period last year, representing a 33% decrease.