Halloween: Two-year-old girl struck by firework in Newry

Police say the two-year-old girl struck by a firework in Newry has been left with a permanent scar

A two-year-old has been injured after a firework that was thrown into a garden struck her on the face in Newry, County Down, on Saturday night.

Police have appealed for information about the incident which happened in Rockfield Heights at about 20:15 GMT.

The NI Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said they experienced a 22% increase in calls compared to last Halloween.

They received 83 emergency calls and crews responded to 62 operational incidents.

Of these incidents 18 were bonfire or Halloween related.

The NIFRS said there were also two separate incidents where members of the public threw missiles, including fireworks, at the fire service.

The incidents took place between 18:00 GMT on the 31 October and 01:00 on 1 November.

Health Minister Robin Swann condemned the attacks, saying "it quite frankly beggars belief that anyone would consider this acceptable behaviour".

"Thankfully, no injuries have been reported but it could have turned out very differently," he said.

'Serious consequences'

Paddy Gallagher, from the NIFRS, said the increase in calls was not unexpected given that there were no "pre-arranged" events.

"We had anticipated a potential increase in the number of people who would be making their own arrangements for Halloween night," he said.

"We appealed to the community as a whole to ensure they took greater care this year.

"People don't understand that firefighters are part of their own community and they work tirelessly to come to people's lives and come to their aid in these areas.

"Their jobs are dangerous enough without having to deal with these threats.

"These attacks are not only socially unacceptable but can have serious consequences on our firefighters' safety and the ability to respond to emergencies in these areas- potentially the very people, or their families who, are attacking them."

Many major events to mark Halloween in Northern Ireland were cancelled for 2020 as a result of coronavirus restrictions.

Earlier this month, organisers of the large annual celebrations in Londonderry said it had called off plans for a scaled down fireworks display.