We thought it was all over – but now it appears that it isn’t.
Less than 24 hours after it was reported the the fire on the Slieve Bloom mountains had been extinguished, flames and plumes of smokes were visible again over night.
A large plume of smoke could be seen rising above the mountain in the general direction of Clonaslee last night.
Unlike the original fire, the smoke was visible this time in Offaly from Killeigh to Tullamore and all the way to Kilcormac.
Helicopters were soon reportedly back in the sky in an effort to fight this new blaze.
The fire was first reported on Wednesday afternoon between Kinnity and Cadamstown with Offaly Fire Services responding to the incident.
Firefighters left the scene late on Thursday night satisfied that the fire had been put out.
This new fire is not believed to be anywhere near as devastating as the original one.
The damage to the area is said to be severe with groups such as Birdwatch Ireland alarmed at the harm caused to local wildlife.
That fire on #SlieveBloom is no more ‘contained’ as was stated than Kim Jong Un’s Uranium enrichment programme. I see it has spread to the north facing side of the mountain tonight….
— Postman Paddy (@Postman_Paddy) July 6, 2018
Watching the Slieve Bloom mountains forest fire light up the night sky. Hopefully it’s brought under control soon. Ireland had a very bad winter followed by a very hot summer & no rain forecast for the next 10 days. This is unheard of in Ireland.#GlobalWarmingIsReal pic.twitter.com/ONWVpmGmuo
— Maria Colbert (@mariacolbert1) July 6, 2018
@rtenews @ciaranmullooly Slieve Bloom not letting up tonight… pic.twitter.com/OUppXpB2Qv
— Ken Timlin (@timlin_ken) July 6, 2018
SEE ALSO – Clough-Ballacolla hold off Slieve Bloom to win Division 2 crown