Vehicles destroyed in depot arson attack

Four vehicles were destroyed in a suspected arson attack on a Ballymena council depot today.

Police investigating the blaze at Market Road shortly after 1am said they were treating it as suspicious and appealed for information about any suspicious activity.

It was the second major fire at a council depot this week. On Monday a fire caused more than £1m (€1.4m) damage at a Derry City depot.

Fire fighters in Ballymena managed to stop the latest fire spreading to nearby flats.

Nevertheless two vans, a low loader and a mechanical digger were destroyed and a shed damaged.

Station Officer Kieran Barr said there appeared to have been four seats of fire in the depot and his opinion was that they were started deliberately.

“The crews worked well to stop the fires spreading and cut down the damage that way. On the boundary of the grounds there’s a block of flats and if the shed had gone we would have had to consider evacuating the residents.”