Mourne Mountains fire believed to be 'deliberate'

The image shows a large fire burning in the dark at the foot hill of the Mourne Mountains in Castlewellan. A small, barbed wire fence is illuminated in the foreground.Claire Paine

The fire is believed to have been started deliberately

Firefighters have extinguished a blaze that started at the foothills of the Mourne Mountains on Monday night.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said it received a report at 18:42 GMT of about 200m of gorse on fire on the Altnadue Road outside of Castlewellan, County Down.

The service said seven appliances and 60 firefighters were sent to the scene.

The fire is believed to have been started deliberately.

A hill with some trees, a couple of buildings, and a stone wall at the bottom. A section of the hill is charred black.

The incident was dealt with by 00:27 GMT

Firefighters used backpack sprayers and beaters to extinguish the fire.

The incident was declared over by 00:27 GMT on Tuesday morning.

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