Status Orange wildfire warning issued as Ireland basks in sunshine

The warning, which is the third fire danger notice of the year, has been extended from 12pm today until midday on Friday, pending “significant” rainfall.

Arising from continued high pressure dominated weather patterns, all areas that contain flammable materials such as dead grass, heather, and gorse are deemed a high fire risk.

The Department said that the dry and sunny spell of weather that the country has been basking in for almost a fortnight poses danger and is considered to be “significant fire activity.”

In a social media post, the Department urged the public not to cause or light fires in and around forests or open land and encouraged the responsible disposal of smoking materials.

In the case of a fire, the public are urged not to try to intervene or fight fires and are asked to gather everybody and move to a safe fuel-free location such as a car park, upwind of fire before calling 999 or 112.

Forest owners, farmers, rural dwellers, and other countryside users are asked to be extremely vigilant regarding fire activity, to report any suspicious or illegal activity to An Garda Síochána and to report all fires immediately to the Fire and Emergency Services.

Meanwhile, showers are expected to break up the warm and sunny run of weather from Tuesday, with scattered drizzle most frequent in the north.

Turning colder on Wednesday, temperatures will drop slightly to highs of nine to 13 degrees while a mix of cloud and sunny spells with scattered showers move across the country.

And it will feel noticeably colder again on Thursday with a frosty start to the morning and highs of six to nine degrees in the afternoon.

However, the frost will clear before the afternoon to leave a day with good sunshine interspaced with scattered light showers.

Met Éireann predicts that Friday will be a mostly dry and bright day but cloud will push in from the north through the afternoon along with a few light showers.

Early indications for the weekend show sunny spells and showers on Saturday with highest temperatures of eight to 11 degrees while Sunday remains more uncertain with the possibility of widespread rain.