Fire causes €1.4m damage to Derry council vehicles

Council vehicles worth up to €1.4m were destroyed in a fire at a depot in Northern Ireland today.

Seven road cleaners and grass-cutting machinery were wrecked when a blaze swept through the garage on the Pennyburn Industrial estate in Derry.

Police investigating the fire said they have not ruled out a possible arson attack. Fire crews called to the scene just before 1.45am found the buildings ablaze.

Station Officer John Gurney said: “The fire was to such an extent it was feared there would be a collapse of the roof area.

“We fought the fire from outside the garages with a number of firefighting jets to extinguish the fires within the vehicles and the buildings itself.”