Derry family left homeless after arson attack
Two houses have been destroyed and one family left homeless today after an arsonist set an oil tank ablaze in Derry.
Police have arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with the overnight fire that engulfed a small terrace at Fergleen Park in Galliagh.
Firefighters said one large family – whose home has been completely gutted in the arson attack – were lucky to have escaped with their lives.
“At that time of night the family could have been in their beds upstairs and with the oil tank on fire downstairs they mightn’t have been able to get out,” insisted Crescent Link Fire Station Commander Martin Jeffrey.
“They are very lucky.”
The fire service were called to the scene of the blaze in the huge housing estate shortly after 1am this morning.
A family in one of the houses had already managed to get out while their home and the community house next door, which was empty at the time, burned to the ground.
Another family home in the terrace was badly damaged after the water tank in the roofspace melted with the heat and flooded the house.
Some 20 firefighters, from Derry and Strabane stations, fought the flames for hours before the situation was brought under control.
Commander Jeffrey said fire cover for the city was severely effected at the time with four units needed to tackle the blaze.
The Police Service said they arrested a man in Galliagh this morning and he is being questioned by detectives from Strand Road police station.
They have appealed for any witnesses to get in contact.
