Home of 94-year-old Newtownstewart woman destroyed by fire

A 94-year-old Newtownstewart woman was left heartbroken this week after her beloved family home was ravaged in an unexpected fire on Monday.

Doty Baxter, who lives on the Crowhill Road with other family members, was forced to flee the house on Monday afternoon following the blaze which reportedly started by accidental ignition.

The fire broke out around noon and a total of five fire engines from the Newtownstewart, Castlederg and Strabane stations were in attendance, using hose reels and jets in order to bring the blaze under control.

However the local home suffered intense fire and smoke damage as a result, with substantial damage to the downstairs of the building.

The aftermath of the fire has seen family and friends rally around the Baxters, assisting in what is a major clean-up operation at the house. The family are currently residing with relatives while the house is repaired.

The NIFRS confirmed that five engines attended the incident at 12:33pm on Monday and had dealt with the incident by 4:48pm the same day.

Linda Monaghan, a family friend has set up a GoFundMe page to help. With a target of £20,000, the current total at time of going to press is £4,085.

l If anyone would like to contribute to the page, they can do so by going to GoFundMe.com and searching for ‘Doty Baxter’s home fire heartbreaking’.