Londonderry: Fire at Dunfield Terrace housing development in Waterside

The fire is located on the roof of a derelict building at the Dunfield Terrace site

A fire at at an unfinished housing development in Londonderry has been brought under control, the Northern Ireland Fire Rescue Service (NIFRS) has said.

Fire crews attended the incident at a block of four derelict buildings at the Dunfield Terrace site at about 20:20 BST on Tuesday.

Three fire appliances were deployed to tackle the blaze, the NIFRS said.

They said the cause of the fire was not yet known.

Previously, a residents group held a series of protests at the site over safety concerns and instances of anti-social behaviour.

Building work stopped at the Dunfield site more than three years ago.

Some residents had called for the derelict buildings to be demolished, saying they were an eye-sore, and were being used for drug taking and other anti-social behaviour.

The development has been extensively damaged

Felicity McCall, from the Dunfield Residents' Association, said the fire had "realised some of our worst fears".

"We have had huge concerns about the site," she told BBC Radio Foyle on Wednesday.

"It would be wrong to pretend we did not want those buildings brought down but nobody could have wanted it to happen this way."

She said over recent months the level of anti-social behaviour at the site had increased.

"We have always been very afraid that nothing would be done until someone was seriously injured or worse," she said.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said had it not been for the work of NIFRS colleagues, "the outcome could have been different".

"As enquiries in relation to the cause of the blaze continue, we're appealing to anyone who was in the area from around 8pm last night and saw any suspicious behaviour, or has information which could assist our enquiries, to get in touch," Insp Swanson said.

SDLP councillor Sean Mooney said there have been previous fires at the development

Officers from Derry City and Strabane District Council visited the site on Wednesday morning.

A council spokeswoman said work is under way to secure the site and "a full investigation will be carried out by partners to establish the cause of the fire".

She said an enforcement notice was "recently served on the property owners regarding the ongoing problems with anti-social behaviour to ensure that action was taken to secure the boundary of the site".

Council's planning department are also investigating alleged unauthorised development at the site, the spokeswoman added.

Speaking from the scene on Tuesday evening, SDLP councillor Sean Mooney said both the police and appliances from the Northern Ireland Fire Rescue Service (NIFRS) attended the incident.

"The is not the first time this has happened at the site," he told BBC News NI.

"There was a small fire there last night as well, but not as severe as this one I am looking at just now, the whole roof is completely on fire."