TEAMS of firefighters doused blocks of flats in foam beside a towering bonfire in Portadown where residents were advised to evacuate due to safety concerns.
Windows were also boarded up ahead of the controversial pyre being lit in the Corcrain area on Wednesday night.
Fire crews spent several hours at the scene where a large crowd gathered to watch the bonfire, which is usually lit ahead of Eleventh Night.
Images posted online appeared to show a tricolour atop the bonfire.
The pyre was a focus of controversy in recent days after dozens of residents were advised to leave their homes because it "poses a serious health and safety risk".
Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council had planned to remove the bonfire, but attempts were abandoned after it was unable to secure a willing contractor despite approaching more than 35 companies.
It was reported that residents in around half of the affected flats were vacating before the bonfire was lit, with most making their own arrangements.
Safety leaflets had been delivered to around 200 homes in the area offering residents advice on the dangers of smoke inhalation.
Earlier this week, a Facebook page for the bonfire posted an image of an effigy, adding: "Ladies and gentlemen, meet Doug".
UUP MLA Doug Beattie, who had expressed concerns about the size of the pyre, brushed off the apparent reference, tweeting: "Doesn't even look like me. I'm fatter, and I don't smoke."
Sinn Féin councillor Catherine Nelson had described the situation of evacuating residents to light a bonfire as "ludicrous" and "not acceptable in 2019".
DUP councillor Darryn Causby, who attended the bonfire, told Q Radio the evening "passed off very well" with a "calm atmosphere".
He added that "attempts to spark a confrontation on the issue of bonfires in Portadown" had "failed".
Bonfire builders branded the warnings to evacuate homes as "hysteria".
They told the Portadown Times there were no objections last year, and claimed local residents consider fire crews hosing down houses as a "normal thing".
"No-one has ever come down and said, you went from having 80 posters on the fire and 40 flags to one tricolour. No one said that's a step in the right direction," they added.
