ABOUT 120 cattle died in a farm fire in south Wicklow on Saturday night.
John Hollingsworth from Barniskey, Redcross, four miles from Arklow, had just brought his animals in off the land for winter housing when a massive fire destroyed four sheds where the cattle were being housed.
Some estimates say that up to 120 cattle died in the fire with the total loss to Mr Hollingsworth expected to be substantial.
It is has not yet been established what started the fire. Arklow gardaí are waiting for forensic investigators to arrive today to examine the scene, but the fire was fuelled by more than 1,400 bales of hay and straw also stacked in some of the sheds.
Local farmers helped the two units of Arklow fire brigade to fight the fire using their tractors and slurry spreaders and they also succeeded in rescuing a small number of the animals, which were a mixture of cows, fatteners and young calves.
Firemen from Arklow remained at the scene throughout the night until 10am yesterday after fighting the fire throughout the night.
The alarm was raised shortly after 9.30pm on Saturday by another farmer Paudie Murphy, who was doing yard work after milking.
His farm overlooks Mr Hollingsworth's holding.
Mr Hollingsworth, whose house is about a mile and a half from his farm buildings, said that Paudie Murphy rang Abie Waldron, who works for Mr Hollingsworth, saying that there was a "bad look about the sky".
"When I arrived down at the farm, the fire was just massive," Mr Hollingsworth added. "Abie Waldron and myself succeeded in rescuing about six cattle from the fire, but then we were beaten back by the dense smoke. We had just brought the cattle in off the land to house them for the winter days before this fire. Every farmer just loves his animals and it is heartbreaking to see so many animals burned alive in a fire."
The scene after the fire was awful, he said, and his vet was seeing if he could save the cattle with severe burns and breathing problems from smoke inhalation.
Several neighbouring farmers rallied around with their tractors and slurry spreaders to help with fighting the fire.
As a contractor erecting sheds and slatted units as well as being a beef and suckler farmer, Mr Hollingsworth would have carried out work for many of his neighbours.
Arklow fire chief John Connolly said it was the worst fire he had attended in the past six years. "Flames were shooting up in the sky when we arrived and it had too much of a hold to save the hay and straw. Sparks spread the fire to the units housing the cattle which died from a combination of incineration and smoke.
"There was no way we would be able to extinguish the fire in the hay. We had to let it burn itself out. But we did save one large shed," Mr Connolly said.