Historical perspectives on wildfires in Ireland

This project uses archival sources to create new records of wildfire events and community adaptation in Ireland.

Project background

Gorse, bog and forest fires often pose significant challenges for rural communities in Ireland. This project uses newspapers and other archival sources to improve our understandings of fire hazards and their impacts. The project has four main aims:

To develop new historical records of fire events and their impacts from the 19th century to the present.
To contextualise and particularise current adaptation policies and practices by exploring the ways in which local communities have engaged with and responded to fire hazards through time.
To explore the relationships between changing land uses and wildfire events.
To examine the role of news media in producing and disseminating local knowledge of fire hazards.

Research outputs to date

Jeffers, J.M, Gonzalez, S, Harwood, A and Pulido-Sanchez, P (2022) ‘A history of wildfires in Ireland (1850-2020) and its implications for contemporary climate change adaptation’ American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, New York [online].
Jeffers, J.M (2021) ‘Historical perspectives on wildfires in Ireland and their importance for contemporary adaptation’ Conference of Irish Geographers, Trinity College Dublin [online]
Jeffers, J.M. (2021) 'Particularizing adaptation to non-predominant hazards: a history of wildfires in County Donegal, Ireland from 1903 to 2019.' International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 58. e102211.

Firefighters spraying water over a blackened moor

Project team

Dr James Jeffers – Bath Spa University