About this time of year in rural Ireland especially in moorland or mountainous areas there seems to be an overwhelming need to set fire to all things brown or heather like! this is done as I'm led to believe to promote new grass growth for this years lambs to feed on. As a fireman who gets paid by the hour and likes nothing more than a leg of roast spring lamb I can see great advantages in this system for the sheep farmers, and to the likes of me of coarse. However we have a conflict of interests when it comes to the big hot orange stuff! We have no automated means of transporting water to the fire, there is no special way of transporting the heavy wet stuff up the sides of mountains! we in rural Ireland have no helicopters or water planes to drop bright orange water bombs upon mile upon mile of gorse or young Pine plantation. The only means of extinguishing these fires some of which are miles in length is on foot, armed with nothing more than a shovel or a simple beater! which is made up of a length of split fire hose tied onto a broom handle.
Now about this time of year in our area there happen to be Hen Harriers, Deer, Fox, ect, ect,all with young! last year one of my crew rescued a fox cub that was left to die after it's mother had ran for cover, it had lost it's fur on his ears and it's front paws were singed. This year ironically according too the local papers we rescued three sheep with young who had in a panic become entrapped in some sheep wire as the wind changed and the fire encircled them, and there was a distinctive smell of Sunday roast in the air as we stumbled across the blackened remains of the one that didn't get away. Don't get me wrong, the actual act of putting these fires out although it's a physically demanding one also provides us with a chance to see some amazing sights, the great sun set, meteor showers, and shooting stars, the wild life of coarse, all of which we would probably not get to see otherwise. We have our laughs as well! usually at the expense of each other, as even the most shore of foot will in the dark at some point fall victim to the unexpected rabbit hole or even Sheer turf cut, full of brackish tea brown water. All of which are quickly followed by a snigger and smart comment like "watch the hole there" or "have a nice trip!"
There seems to be nothing funnier than to see a grown man or woman fall headlong into a hole full of sheep sh$t, well it works for me anyway, especially if your the physical shape of some of my colleges!
I'm afraid to say that for the most part out of all the firefighters I have come into contact with I can quite defiantly say none would be gracing the cover of any Calenders all oiled up and topless, the very thought of it would bring the wives of our small crew into a fit of laughter. We are ordinary people who happen to do an extraordinary job, we are not all Greek Adonis's rescuing kitten's from tree's. The reality is a bunch of lads, and one lady of mixed age all living ordinary lives up until our alerter's go off, then we drop our day jobs and step into the unknown!
Kipling.
