PSNI quiz clubbers over Derry blaze

Nightclubbers are to be questioned by police investigating a suspected arson attack that claimed the life of a fireman, it emerged tonight.

Detectives want to probe reports of disturbances at a hotel nightclub in Limavady, Co Derry, hours before flames swept through a nearby storeroom.

Father-of-five Joe McCloskey, 50, never recovered from his injuries after falling through the roof as he tackled the blaze.

Police forensic experts, fire service investigators and health and safety chiefs are carrying out full examinations of the debris at the Gorteen House Hotel.

But sources close to the investigation revealed that the Halloween night blaze was almost certainly started deliberately.

“There are certain signs which lead us to believe it was arson,” one said.

It is believed a row had flared at Jenson’s nightclub, which led to a number of men being ejected, before the fire.

Police confirmed tonight that they want to speak to anyone who was in the club on the night of the fire.

Detectives have found no evidence, however, of a break-in and are still treating the fire as suspicious rather than malicious.

As the examination continued, the entire site was impounded, including items of fire brigade clothing.

No-one from the hotel was available for comment.

Mr McCloskey was the first crew member to be killed on duty in Northern Ireland in nearly a decade.

He was one of six officers injured when a burning storeroom roof collapsed at the hotel early on Saturday.

His death has dealt a shattering blow to the whole service, chief fire officer Colin Lammey said.

Trained counsellors have been brought in to help Mr McCloskey’s colleagues cope.

Mr Lammey said: “This is just a devastating day for us as a brigade.

“We last lost a firefighter in Northern Ireland in 1995 and this is out of any of our experiences.”

Mr McCloskey, who had served for 25 years as part-time firefighter in Dungiven, Co Derry, died yesterday in hospital.

He plummeted to the ground as he fought to extinguish the flames from the roof of the burning building.

Detectives and health and safety officials have been drafted in to investigate the cause of the blaze, along with internal fire service investigators.

Mr Lammey was unable to give any detail on how the blaze started, but he pledged to establish the facts as soon as possible.

“With the police forensic team, we hope to get to the bottom of what happened on Saturday morning."

Before the tragedy, only nine other firefighters had been killed in the line of duty in the North since 1971.

The last officer to die was Robin Neill, who was overcome by a lack of oxygen during an attempted rescue from a well in Ballymoney, Co Antrim in 1995.

As news of the death spread, phone calls and messages of support flooded in from crews across Northern Ireland, Mr Lammey said.

A fund was now likely to be established for Mr McCloskey’s widow Marie and five children ranging in age from seven to 22, he added.

Special help will also be made available for any colleagues of the greatly-respected victim, who carried an emergency pager, so he could be contacted by the fire service, at all times during his daily work with the British government agency Enterprise Ulster.

“The firefighters from Dungiven and Limavady who rescued Joe on Saturday morning have been greatly affected by this,” said Mr Lammey.

“We have trained counsellors dealing with the crews and other officers.”