By Lisa Ramsden
SIXTY firefighters tackled a major gorse fire outside Castlewellan on Monday night. Around 200 metres of land was well alight when the alarm was raised just before 6.45pm.
The NI Fire and Rescue Service – which believes the fire was started intentionally – said personnel from as far away as Lisburn responded to the incident, on land off the Altnadua Road.
At the height of the incident members of the public were advised to avoid the Dublin Road and the Bann Road areas.
The blaze could be seen for miles around. It took firefighters, using back sprayers and beaters, around six hours to tackle the blaze.
Read about the follow up to the incident in the full story.
