County Derry Post

Sick arsonists have struck in Limavady again at the weekend as the Fire Service attended yet another oil tank blaze.

By Orla McNichollorla@derrypost.com 

The latest fire, at Donald’s Way in the town, happened at around 9.30pm on Sunday and is being treated as deliberate.

A spokesperson for the NI Fire& Rescue Service said: “It was a domestic oil tank to the rear of a property that was on fire and two fire units from Limavady and Northland Road stations attended.“It is being treated as deliberate and police are investigating the incident.”Councillor Michael Coyle, Chairman of Limavady District Policing Partnership,said: “In this latest incident, the home owners were lucky as their oil tank didn’t have much oil in it, so it could have been much worse.“I would just reinforce the message that people need to make sure their oil tank is as secure as possible and keep as little oil as possible in the tank.”

In a further blow to the town, the countryside museum at the Roe Valley Country Park was forced to close after thugs broke into its yard and set three vans on fire.

The attack happened on Easter Monday night. The vans were close to the stone walls of the museum which suffered smoke damage.

A spokesperson for the Environment & Heritage Service, which runs the complex which includes the Dogleap Centre, said: “Three vehicles were burned and completely destroyed; there was also some superficial damage to doors and windows of the ground floor of the nearby building and some smoke damage to the upper floor of the building which houses Green Lane Museum.”

They added that the incident had not affected the park, visitor centre or café. “Due to the timing of the incident no staff were on site and no personal injuries sustained.”Cllr Coyle appealed to the public to report any suspicious activity to the police, their local councillor or the DPP.“The PSNI have now drafted in extra resources from Derry with officers who specialise in fire crime- I just hope these fires will stop now,” he added. Sunday evening also saw a false alarm at St Mary’s High School in Irish Green Street after there were reports of smoke.  Fire crews from Limavady and Dungiven attended but the source turned out to be a gas boiler.

A spokesperson for the school said: “There was no fire at the school, there was just a lot of smoke coming from one of the chimneys.”