Fire service say accidental fire behind Sainsbury's alert 'extinguished prior to arrival'

A number of appliances attended the busy shopping complex shortly before 3pm.

An alarm and recorded tannoy announcement asking staff and shoppers to evacuate the building could be heard.

The NI Fire Service confirmed that two fire Appliances from Northland Fire Station attended the incident at 2.24pm.

A spokesperson said: "Firefighters were called to reports of a fire at a commercial premises this afternoon. The fire was extinguished prior to the arrival of Firefighters. The cause of the fire is being treated as accidental and the incident was dealt with by 3.03pm."

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said, “Our Strand Road supermarket was temporarily closed for a short period this afternoon due to a small fire inside the store. Following a thorough investigation to ensure the safety of all customers and colleagues, the store is now open as usual. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”