Belfast: Residents told to close windows after 'significant' blaze
- Published
There were about 40 firefighters tackling the blaze on Sunday evening
Residents in Belfast were advised on Sunday to keep their windows and doors closed as firefighters tackled a "significant" grass and gorse fire.
The fire service received a call about a grassland fire near the nature reserve on the North Foreshore at 15:45 BST.
Plumes of smoke were visible over the city on Sunday evening.
The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said about 40 firefighters tackled the blaze.
It was brought under control later on Sunday.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The public has been asked by the fire service not to light fires or barbecues in the countryside, with the good weather risking the outbreak of fires.
The effort to put out the gorse fire is expected to continue for some time
Area commander Brian Stanfield said six fire appliances attended the scene, and the ground was "tinder dry".
He described it as a "significant blaze" which generated "high levels of of smoke throughout north Belfast and the city centre".
"Tonight the smoke is down and settling over the city, so we would advise people to close all doors and windows as you don't want the smoke entering your house," he said.
Mr Stanfield said it was normal for this type of blaze to be caused by "human intervention", whether it was deliberate or accidental.
"The fire service has been extremely busy all over the spring period, due to this hot weather and our firefighters are out day and night dealing with these incidents.
"I must stress how important it is for the public to know not to light fires. Most of these fires are either deliberately set or accidentally got out of control, it's human intervention that causes these fires. So we just need to act responsibly to protect our local countryside and people and property."
Since Friday morning, NIFRS has dealt with 134 grass and wildfires.
