Vigilance urged following significant wildfires in Armagh and Derry

Vigilance has been urged after firefighters tackled further significant wildfires.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said it mobilised to 53 wildfire incidents on Thursday, and continued to respond to calls overnight.

Five fire appliances were sent each to two larger blazes in Draperstown, County Derry, and Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh.

A spokesperson for the NIFRS said they were called at 4.48pm to a report of a fire at 25 acres of gorse on Corrick Road, Draperstown, and five fire appliances, the command support unit and specialist wildfire teams attended the incident, which had been dealt with by 9.33pm.

The NIFRS was called at 4.23pm to reports of a gorse fire on Friary Road in Newtownhamilton, and five fire appliances and 25 firefighters attended the incident, which had been dealt with by 7.18pm.

Meanwhile, firefighters were also called to reports of a one-mile fire front gorse blaze on the Bunnisnagapple Road, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, at 9.22pm, which was attended by three fire appliances and 15 firefighters and was dealt with by 11.46pm.

“Our firefighters continued to respond to a number of other emergency incidents across the night, including an industrial fire in on Cloghanramer Road, Newry, with six fire appliances and 56 firefighters in attendance, a rescue in the Upper Springfield Road area of Belfast, with specialist rescue teams and two fire appliances, and a house fire in Lisnaskea with three fire appliances and 15 firefighters at the scenes,” a spokesperson for the NIFRS said.

“With the weather warning still in place, we are appealing to the public to adhere to our fire safety advice.

“Please stay vigilant to fire in the countryside. If you see a fire, call 999.”

Sinn Fein Mid Ulster MLA Emma Sheerin called for “those responsible” for the fire in Draperstown “to be held to account”.

“I want to extend my sincere thanks to the firefighters and emergency service personnel who worked tirelessly to contain and extinguish the fire,” she said.

“Authorities have indicated that the fire is believed to have been started deliberately. This is deeply concerning.

“Those responsible must be held to account.”

As the weather warning for wildfires remains in place, NIFRS is reminding the public to stay vigilant to the risk of fire in the countryside.

NIFRS Chief Fire & Rescue Officer Aidan Jennings said: “Many of the incidents our Service has responded to in the last seven days have been significant, with one wildfire declared as a major incident and multiple others occurring simultaneously. This, coupled with the many other fire and special service emergency calls we have received, has created a challenge for us in maintaining normal service delivery.

“The impact has been felt right across our Service with everyone playing their part in our response. I want to commend our Firefighters for their exceptional work in tackling the wildfires in these extremely challenging and exhausting conditions. Our On-Call Firefighters have been remarkable and I want to thank them, their employers and their families for their support and understanding at this time.

“I also want to pay tribute to our control room operators who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to support the operational response and maintain normal service delivery, along with many support employees across the organisation. Our collaborative approach has been an outstanding representation of our One Team ethos at NIFRS.”

“As ever the support of many partner agencies has been invaluable over the last week and I would like to thank them and acknowledge the efforts of all their teams.”

“Finally, I would like to thank the public for supporting us during this critical time. I again want to reassure the public that our contingency plans remain in place and we will continue to respond should you need us in an emergency. However, with a weather warning still in place, I am reiterating our appeal to adhere to our fire safety advice. Please act safely over the coming days and stay vigilant to fire in the countryside.”