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Firefighters put out large gorse fire in Ballymoney

NIFRS North/ Facebook Firefighters in brown uniforms extinguish a wildfire in a field. There is smoke rising into the sky, which is blue with clouds.NIFRS North/ Facebook
The blaze is approximately 10 acres with a firefront of 200m

Firefighters have extinguished a large gorse fire in Ballymoney, County Antrim.

The fire service was called to a blaze covering approximately 10 acres, with a fire front 200 metres long, on Lisboy Road shortly after 16:00 BST on Friday.

Seven fire appliances and 51 firefighters initially attended the scene, along with a command support unit and other specialist vehicles, the fire service said.

The operation was subsequently scaled back and the blaze was put out by 22:18.

Recent gorse fires

The blazes are the latest in a string of gorse fires.

Firefighters extinguished two blazes in County Armagh on Friday.

On Monday, firefighters put out a gorse fire near Spelga Dam in the Mourne Mountains.

Last week, a number of fires were dealt with by firefighters on Slieve Binnian.

There were two other blazes in the area, one near Silent Valley and another near Castlewellan, in County Down.

Last month, the Natural Hazards Partnership issued an amber warning for wildfires in Northern Ireland.

It said that dry and breezy conditions heightened the risk of a blaze.