With the recent dry weather significantly increasing the risk of fires on tillage farms, Teagasc Tillage Specialist Shay Phelan advises farmers to put measures in place to be able to prevent and extinguish fires if they occur.
All fields, including grass fields and hedges where there is dead or decaying material has the potential to burn if the conditions are right.
10 ways to manage the fire risk:
- Make sure all combines, balers and tractors have fire extinguishers that are tested and working.
- Have a water tanker or bowser on hand and full of water during the harvest. Don’t go looking to fill them when the fire starts.
- If there is a spare tractor on the farm, hitch it up to a cultivator in case a fire starts. This can then be used to create a fire break quickly.
- Clean down combines, tractors and balers regularly to stop them from overheating and potentially catching alight.
- Likewise, ensure all bearings are greased as per the manufacturer’s guidelines.
- Slow down when cultivating especially where straw is chopped. We have all heard of stories where some steel part of a machine flicked off a stone and cause a spark resulting in a fire.
- Remove straw from fields as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of people playing on bales and possibly causing fires.
- Harvest crops near known fire-risk areas as soon as they are ripe.
- Cigarette smoking in fields should be banned.
- Ensure you have the number of the local fire brigade on your phone in case the worst happens.
Advertisement