Fire crews come under further attack

A fire crew has been attacked in the Shankill Road area of Belfast on Monday night.

The crew came under attack from a crowd of stone throwing youths after being called out to deal with a fire in Silvio Street.

One window of the appliance was smashed during the incident however no one was injured. The appliance has been taken out of service for repairs to be carried out.

However, the closest replacement had to be drafted in from Londonderry leaving that station without a spare vehicle.

Monday evening's attack followed a weekend of violence in the Sandy Row area of the city in which fire crews were again attacked by gangs of youths. During that episode, a fire engine was damaged during the same incident.

In Coleraine, two fire engines were also recently temporarily withdrawn from service after they were damaged in an attack on July 21.

The fire brigade has now recorded 680 incidents, such as last night's trouble, since January 29. During the same period, 32 firefighters have been injured.

This represents a growing trend of violence against the fire service as figures for the previous year recorded 608 incidents with 25 fire crew injured.

Although meetings occur between fire brigade representatives and local community leaders to deal with such issues, a fire brigade spokesperson said that fire crews were now suffering attacks on a daily basis.

(MB)