Tyrone fire crews called in to help tackle wildfire in Co Derry

FIRE crews from Tyrone were called in last night to fight a large wildfire in Co Derry.

At one stage, there were 54 firefighters tackling the blaze at Corrick Road in Draperstown.

The fire was reported to the emergency services at 5.30pm on Thursday and put out at around 9.30pm.

The Draperstown fire was tackled by crews from Strabane, Dungiven, Cookstown, Pomeroy and the specialist rescue team from Newry.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service’s incident commander Karen McDowell said fire crews across the North had faced an exceptionally challenging time over recent days during which they had battled more than 200 fires.

The “vast majority”, she told BBC Radio Foyle, ‘have been started deliberately’.

Wildfires, she added, ‘tie up a huge amount of resources’ and take them away from communities where they are needed.

“We would appeal to everybody to be very careful to reduce the likelihood of fires,” she said.

Also on Thursday, firefighters were deployed to small gorse fires at Tursallagh Road, Sixmilecross, County Tyrone and Friary Road, Newtownhamilton, County Armagh.