A small but potentially dangerous gorse fire at Glandart, near Bantry, was quickly brought under control by fire-fighting crews from Bantry yesterday afternoon.

Bantry Fire Brigade crews spent over an hour bringing the fire under control and some locals used beaters to keep the fire from creeping its way to a house nearby.

The fire-fighters protected the house but the gorse fire has blackened the landscape in the Glandart area and the acrid smell of smoke and burnt vegetation is still hangs in the air.

Two fire appliances and a fire control vehicle attended the scene, with the control vehicle and an appliance attending a house very near to the fire.

With conditions underfoot being described as tinder-dry, fire fighters have appealed to people to be extra vigilant and not to light fires, use barbeques or discard cigarette ends because the potential for a major fire is a real threat since the heatwave began.