The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) was present at a fire on a farm for over two days in Culmore near Derry city at the weekend. The blaze occurred in the woodchip processing facility on Brook Hall estate.

Kevin Lynch from the NIFRS said that the fire service was called to the scene at 5am on Saturday and was finished at around midday on Monday. He said that 45 fire fighters attended the incident at its peak and managed to stop the blaze from spreading.

Lynch added that no one had been injured during the incident, but three woodchip storage sheds had been extensively damaged. It’s believed that there was around 600 tonnes of woodchip in these stores.

It is understood that four biomass boiler installations were also destroyed in the fire.

Brook Hall estate grows, processes, dries, stores and burns willow for renewable energy generation.

Suspected electrical fault

Owner John Gilliland said that a suspected electrical fault in a woodchip grader was potentially the cause of the blaze.

The NIFRS have said that the exact cause is now under investigation.

Controlling the extensive blaze required substantial amounts of water, which caused some shortages in water mains for local residents for a period over the weekend.