Derry houses doused down during Eleventh Night bonfire

An eyewitness, who captured the incident on video, said the residents of eight homes were evacuated after the bonfire was lit close to a fence separating the Clooney Estate and the new development off the Limavady Road.

The man, who does not wish to be identified, also claimed that as the Fire and Rescue personnel were dousing the homes, there were chants heard in the area of ‘Fenian b*******’.

A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that one appliance from Crescent Link attended Clooney Park Gardens.

They received two calls from residents concerned about heat radiating from the bonfire.

One of these was before the bonfire was lit and no action was required. The second call was after the fire was lit and the fire appliance attended and used a water jet to cool the houses down.

It was an exceptionally busy night for the Fire and Rescue Service across the north, with personnel receiving 213 emergency calls between 6pm on July 11 and 1am on July 12.

The NIFRS also attended 133 operational incidents across the North, an increase of 49% during the same period last year.

40 of these were bonfire related incidents, representing a 21% increase on 2016.

Between 10pm and 1am, the NIFRS dealt with 95 operational incidents. At it’s busiest time the Regional Control Centre handled an emergency 999 call every minute.