WHILE most of us have been enjoying the good weather of the past few days, sadly some mindless individuals have been starting fires which have been keeping the emergency services very busy.
Up to last night there had been about 250 such blazes since May 1 with a PSNI spokesperson saying most if not all are believed to have been started deliberately.
In today's edition we carry pictures of a fire on a hillside in Newry not far from a residential area of the town. The incident began on Friday evening near a school and caused the evacuation of residents from some houses. It was finally extinguished in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Yesterday and last night fire and rescue personnel were involved in another major incident in Co Tyrone. Both of these incidents would have posed a considerable threat to farms, local residents and to the habitats of wildlife.
Indeed the USPCA spoke of burned and abandoned nests being reported by members of the public as well as a badger being found at the side of the road.
Every single fire, whether set deliberately or not, has the potential to become a major confligration and to pose a threat to human and animal life as well as to property.
When one considers that emergency services personnel are day and daily called to road accidents and other situations, it is outrageous that they also have to deal with problems such as these which have been caused deliberately.
The police spokesperson called on anyone with information on these blazes to report it to the PSNI. Hopefully that will happen and it will dissuade anyone from further arson attacks.
