Families flee Northern forest fire

A massive forest blaze which forced the evacuation of a number of houses in Northern Ireland was today being brought under control by fire fighters.

Twelve pumping appliances were sent to Cashel Wood, between Cookstown and Omagh in Co Tyrone early this morning to tackle the outbreak.

Divisional Officer Graham Crossett said five families living in the area known as Creggan had to leave their homes as crews battled for hours to deal with the fire.

"We have just received word that the fire is now under control and we are beginning to scale down the operation," he said.

"But this was a fair size of an incident - 12 pumps being used is quite a lot."

An investigation into what caused the fire will begin later today.

"It could be anything from someone throwing a cigarette butt out of a car, but we may never really know," Mr Crossett said.