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Firefighters tackling gorse fire in Maghera

BBC A wildfire at night. Smoke is rising into the sky. The photo has been taken from a car.BBC
There are currently ten fire appliances attending the fire on the Glenshane Road in Maghera

Firefighters are currently tackling a gorse fire in Maghera, County Londonderry.

At the height of the incident, 10 fire appliances and 75 firefighters were in attendance on the Glenshane Road.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is advising motorists to avoid the road because of the blaze, which has a fire front of three miles.

In an operational update on Saturday evening, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said they are still in attendance but their response is "currently being scaled down".

The NIFRS said its staff attended 49 wildfires on Friday.

It added that they "continued to respond to a number of other emergency incidents across the night", while on Saturday firefighters were called to a road traffic collision in Castlewellan, County Down, and an agricultural shed fire in Downpatrick.

A fire fighter is wearing a white helmet and a heavy beige jacket. Fire engines are parked behind him.
NIFRS western area commander David Doherty said the blaze in Maghera was a "particularly complicated incident for us to tackle"

NIFRS western area commander David Doherty said the Glenshane Road fire was about "a mile up the mountain with no vehicular access, so it's a particularly complicated incident for us to tackle".

'Pushed to the limits'

Mr Doherty said it had been "an extremely busy" week for the fire service.

"I've just come from the far side of Lisnaskea, 70 miles away, from another incident, as have many of the crews," he said.

"It's not just this incident. There are various incidents ongoing.

"It's very tough on our resources and our firefighters have been pushed to the limits.

"It's been pushing one of the busiest weeks we've had."

A restaurant and bar, with hills behind them. A man wearing a high vis jacket is looking in a car. Some emergency cars are in the background. Some fire fighters are walking.
The car park of the Ponderosa bar and restaurant has become a makeshift command centre for the Fire Service

BBC News NI reporter Catherine Morrison reporting from the scene

The car park of the Ponderosa bar and restaurant has become a makeshift command centre for the fire service.

Smoke from the fires can be seen for miles around - there are four separate blazes which firefighters are currently struggling to get under control, the fire front is three miles long.

They're in a fairly inaccessible location in the Sperrin Mountains, about an hours climb for firefighters, burdened with equipment.

The Ponderosa is open, customers are having lunch as firefighters come and go outside.

Smoke is rising from a hill. The sky is grey and smoky. The person taking the photo is behind a wire fence.
Thirty-three firefighters are in attendance at the fire on the Glenshane Road

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."

On Friday, the fire service confirmed its staff attended 1,112 incidents from Thursday 3 April to Thursday 10 April, 296 of which were wildfires.

They said many were started deliberately.

Meanwhile, the National Trust has warned that some wildlife will be negatively affected by a spate of recent wildfires on the Mourne Mountains.