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Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

By Michelle Crean

The heroes who worked tirelessly to save homes, buildings, animals and woodlands for three exhausting days with little or no rest didn't get much time to catch up on sleep as they were again called out to fires - right next to the burnt land.

On Monday evening at around 4pm as fire crews were checking hotspots to prevent them from reigniting they were told about people lighting BBQs in the area.

Killarney Station Officer Paudie Mangan was at Ladies View ​​​​where they had set up a command centre when he was stopped by a cyclist who told him a couple had lit a BBQ nearby.

"I said I'd do a quick loop and I was stopped by a cyclist who told me a couple had lit a BBQ and I asked them to put it out which they did."

On Wednesday while checking hotspots in Dinis which began to flair again, a woman told Paudie about a man who had pulled in on a boat and had lit a fire 500 yards from what was burnt.

He added that attending some of the fires was made harder by the crowds of people who came to see what was happening at the weekend.

He said that moving fire appliances in that particular area where roads are narrow with steep bends was made "extremely difficult".

It was "pandemonium" and the Gardai had to be called in, he explained.

Later the fire crews closed the roads themselves as a second crowd gathered which was "impeding them" from doing their job.

"It's a danger and it completely slows us down."