Budget cuts blamed for fire damage after hydrant 'lost' in overgrown grass

The recycling plant building contained a shredding machine that was damaged in the fire

A businessman who watched his recycling plant burn as firefighters struggled to find a water hydrant on an overgrown grass verge has blamed government cuts for the damage caused by the blaze.

Tommy McGlinchey said a fire crew took more than an hour to find the hydrant close to his plant near Londonderry.

He said he is angry with the Stormont department responsible for cutting grass along public roads.

He is now facing a £400,000 repair bill as a result of the delay, he claimed.

A fire started at his Brickkiln Waste Ltd site on Heather Road on Tuesday 7 July, in a building containing a shredding machine, waste paper and cardboard.

Mr McGlinchey told BBC Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan Show that he had to use a digger to scrape overgrowth from the hydrant along the roadside for firefighters to find and access it.

Responsibility

"It took them an hour, hour-and-a-half for them to connect to [the hydrant], and in the meantime the fire brigade couldn't deal with the fire properly," he said.

Had the grass along the verge been cut, he said, "the fire could've been out, saved us a lot of money and probably saved jobs, too".

He added that the fire service was "not to blame" for being unable to find the hydrant.

However, it is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) to "inspect fire hydrants periodically".

In response to a freedom of information request last year, NIFRS said it has a "rolling programme of hydrant inspections", and "endeavours to inspect high-risk sites annually where possible".

NIFRS reports fire hydrants that require attention to Northern Ireland Water, which then carries out the work.

But maintenance of the ground and vegetation around fire hydrants does not fall within NI Water's remit.

Verges

The responsibility for grass-cutting along roadsides lies with Transport NI, a body within the Department for Regional Development (DRD).

Transport NI has had its budget cut from about £40m to £12.8m, and an internal document seen by the BBC last month revealed that grass verges will only be cut once a year.

DRD told the BBC it would be "happy to respond to any requests for assistance" from NIFRS regarding overgrowth at hydrants.

Danny Kennedy's department has "no budget available" for grass-cutting

A spokeswoman for the department said that there was "no budget available" for grass-cutting.

But she said DRD Minister Danny Kennedy had given the go-ahead for one cut this year because "he cannot allow road safety related maintenance to be stopped".

Mr McGlinchey described the situation as "ridiculous".

"This could've been a building with people in it, and the fire engines couldn't get the water. They need to sort this out," he said.

"I would advise them to take another look at it. It's dangerous."

Suffering

UKIP MLA David McNarry, who sits on Stormont's regional development committee, said he had warned about the dangers caused by the cutbacks to roadside maintenance.

"The risks are far too great to put lives and property bottom of the list," he said.

"We have verges looking like jungles and weeds growing like triffids.

"[The department] needs to identify, with the fire service, where these hydrants are, particularly in rural areas, and they need to tend to them.

"They need to move now to prevent serious loss of lives."

Oliver McMullan, a Sinn Féin MLA, said more compensation claims for damage caused as a result of reduction to road maintenance would to be inevitable.

"If the minister doesn't stop and turn around his policy, we're going to be spending more and more of his budget in the courtrooms instead of out on the roads."