🔥 Three weeks of fire: As wildfires end, blaze guts Newry business
Has our fire service ever been quite so busy?
With a dry spell caused by a relative 'heatwave' in the last few weeks wild fires have rarely been out of the headlines.
One of the first began in the Flagstaff area of South Armagh on March 24.
From Thursday April 3 – Thursday April 10, Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) received 2,014 emergency calls and attended 1,112 incidents, with 296 of these being wildfire incidents.
Related: Firefighters successfully tackle gorse fire at Flagstaff Viewpoint
And, just when Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue service announced that they had managed to bring all wildfires in Northern Ireland under control... a blaze broke out at a popular Newry-based business park.
The fire at Newry North Business Park on the Cloughanramer Road - which occurred on Thursday night (April 10) - continued to roar until the early hours of Friday morning, gutting several local businesses.
Tiddly Town and Sheepbridge Interiors were two of the businesses left devastated by the blaze.
Related: ‘Devastated beyond belief’: Newry home interiors business ‘destroyed’ in overnight fire
The Cloughanramer Road remained closed to traffic and local residents are advised to keep windows and doors closed for most of Friday while firefighters continued to work.
Updates on the situation at Newry North Business Park will be made public once available.
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 7 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.”
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Noticeboard
Easter Sunday Praise Service | April 20 | 7pm | Derryanville Methodist Church | Speaker Sid Burrows (former Crusaders and Linfield footballer).
💼 Armagh Jobs
🆕 MJM Marine require Quantity Surveyor, Estimating Manager and Contracts/Assistant Contracts Managers.
🆕 Rainbow Community Childcare require Childcare Centre Manager.
🆕 Bubba’s Project Gym require Head Coach and Personal Trainer.
✅ J.Shortt Recycling Ltd. require HGV Driver Class 1 & 2 (Rigid and Artic).
✅ Mount Charles have a number of full time roles across Armagh and beyond.
✅ Mount Charles require Cleaning Operatives and Catering Assistants.
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