The Mourne Mountain Fires

The Mourne Mountains in County Down are home to Northern Ireland’s highest and most dramatic peaks - a landscape often shrouded in cloud and rain. Yet in recent years thousands of fires have broken out across the range, the majority believed to have been started deliberately. Dry weather and hotter summers linked to climate change have made conditions even more hazardous, alongside the degradation of peat bogs and increased soil erosion. Martha Kearney visits County Down to hear how local people have been affected, including farmer Sam McConnell and mountain rescue volunteers Neville Watson and Alwynne Shannon. She also discovers what is being done to mitigate the devastation, meeting lead ranger James Fisher and wildfire recovery ranger Linus Voksepp from the National Trust to learn about their vital restoration work. Producer: Eliza Lomas

You can listen to The Mourne Mountain Fires online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Mourne Mountain Fires is an episode from Open Country by BBC.

This episode is 23:34 long.

This episode was published on Feb 20, 2026.

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